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FORTY    YEARS' 


(Btytxxmtt  hx  &mibK%-%tl[}ttBh. 


BY 


STEPHEN  H.  TYNG,  D.D.. 

BIOTOB     OP     ST.     GEORGE'S    CHURCH,    NEW    YORK. 


NEW  YORK: 

SHELDON    &c    COMPANY, 
BOSTON  i  GOULD  &  LINCOLN. 

1860. 


^9 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

SHELDON    &    COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for 

the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


?*«66 


stereotyped  by  printed  by 

Smith   &  McDougal,  Pudney   &   Kussell, 

82  &  84  Beekman-st.,  N.  Y.  T9  John-street,  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  importance  of  the  subject  of  this  little  vol- 
ume none  can  doubt.  There  is  a  familiarity  in 
treating  it,  and  a  desultory  method  pursued  in  its 
discussion  which  may  be  considered  inappropriate 
for  a  book.  I  have  only  to  say,  the  chapters  herein 
contained,  were  so  many  distinct  letters  addressed  to 
a  friend  who  was  the  Superintendent  of  a  Sunday- 
school,  at  his  own  request.  After  a  publication  in 
the  Independent  had  given  them  a  very  extensive 
circulation,  their  compact  publication  in  the  present 
form  was  also  solicited.  They  are  the  simple  lan- 
guage of  personal  experience  and  observation  in  the 
field  of  which  they  treat.  They  may  be  the  instru- 
ment of  suggesting  other  and  better  thoughts  and 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

experience  to  other  minds.  I  can  not  but  hope 
they  will  be  made  useful  to  many.  If  they  shall 
but  set  Christians  and  ministers  to  thinking,  in- 
quiring, and  speaking,  even  in  opposition  to  some 
of  the  sentiments  they  contain,  they  will  do  good. 
There  can  be  but  one  result  to  which  conscientious 
thought  and  inquiry  must  lead,  and  with  that  the 
end  and  purpose  of  the  book  will  be  so  far  attained. 
To  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  of  the  whole 
Church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  his  sym- 
pathizing friends,  the  Sunday-school  teachers  in  all 
the  Churches,  the  author  gratefully  presents  his 
little  work,  praying  for  their  countenance,  and  the 
Lord's  blessing. 

St.  Geobge's  Reotoby. 

New  York,  August  1, 186a 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.— Personal  History.— Quincy,  Mass.— St.  Paul's,  Phil- 
adelphia.—Epiphany,  Philadelphia : T 

II.— St.  George's,  New  York.— New  Church.— Schools  in 
New  Church. — Exercises  and  Plans  for  Schools.  ...    15 

III. — Failure  of  Teachers. — Advantages  of  Sunday- 
schools. — Conversion  of  Children. — Eesults  of  Ef- 
forts.—Revival  in  St.  Paul's.— Fruits  of  Teaching.    26 

IY.— Manner  of  Teaching.— Useful  Teachers.— JonN 
Farr. — Young  Female  Teacher.— Lovely  Child  in 
Epiphany  School 86 

Y. — Later  Eesults.— Two  Different  Cases. — Dying  Chil- 
dren.— Love  of  Children  for  Sunday-school. — Ef- 
fects on  Families.— Home  Teaching 48 

YI. — Repining.— Elevating  Influence. — A  Professor  in 
College. — A  Female  Principal. — The  Poor  Children. 
— Missionary  Knowledge. — Contributions 6;1 

YIL— Future  Benefits.— Present  Actual  Gains.— Obliga- 
tions of  PASTOR8 69 

YIII.— Agency.— Teachers.—  Yalue.— Usefulness.  —  Quali- 
fications— True  Piety 78 

IX. — Teachers.  —  Religious  Knowledge.  —  Scriptural 
Knowledge. — Special  Preparation. — Love  for  Souls. 
— Efforts  for  Salvation 87 

X. — Teachers.  —  The  Best  Needed.  —  Missionary  from 
Africa.— Love  the  Rule.— Boys  and  Girls  Taught 
Together.— Foolish  Quarrels 96 

XL — Teachers, — Punctuality. — Divine  Aid.  —  Prayer.  -— 
Opening  Worship.— Prayer  for  Children,— Quiet 
Attention 105 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XII. — Superintendent.— Punctuality. — Christian  Charac- 
ter.—Intelligence.— Kindness 115 

XIII.  —  Anniversaries.  —  Anniversary  Books.  —  Mission- 
ary Contributions. — Eleventh  Anniversary. — St. 
George's. — Account  of  Schools 124 

XIV. — Relation  to  the  Church. — General  Sunday-school 
Cause.— Independence  op  the  Sunday-schools. — 
Change  of  feeling  in  the  Church 135 

XV.— Relation  to  the  Church.— Duty  of  the  Church. — 

Mission  Schools 144 

XVI. — Duty  of  the  Churches.— Suitable  Buildings. — 
Provision  for  Mission  Schools. — Method  of  Con- 
ducting  154 

XVII.— Mission  Schools.— Emigrants.— St.  George's.— Mis- 
sion Chapel.— Plan  and  Occupation 163 

XVIII. — Sunday-school  Effort. — Public  Schools.— Duty  of 

the  Church  to  the  Cause. — Successful  Efforts.  . . .  172 

XIX. — Pastoral  Duty.— Influence  of  Sunday-schools. — 
Instances. — The  Ministry  in  relation  to  this  work. 
— Incident  at  Jaffa 131 

XX.— Tns  Ministry.— Pastoral  Care.— Neglect.— Per- 
sonal Superintendence.— Value  to  the  Pastor...  192 

XXI.— The  Ministry.— Superintendence  of  Schools. — Per- 
sonal Visiting. — Lectures  for  Teachers  and  Chil- 
dren   202 

XXII.— Duty  of  Schools  to  the  Church.— Church  Teaching. 

—Church  Relations.— Value  of  them  to  Children.  212 

XXIII.— Duty  of  Teachers. — Catechisms.— The  Bible  the 

Book  for  Sunday-school  Teaching 222 

XXIV.— Teachees.  —  Bible    Teaching.  —  Preparation.  — 

Prayer.— Illustration. — Simplicity  in  Teaching.  . .  232 

XXV.— Teachers. — Manners. — Actual  "Work. — Blessed  Re- 
sults.—Joy  in  Final  Success 242 


PERSONAL    HISTORY. — QUINCY,    MASS. — ST.  PAUL'S,    PHILADEL- 
PHIA,— EPIPHANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 

\Y  Dear  Friend  :  You  ask  for  some 
notes  of  my  personal  experience  in 
connection  with  Sunday-schools,  and 
some  of  the  results  of  that  experience. 
I  shall  be  glad  to  gratify  you  in  a 
very  simple  and  desultory  way,  having  no  time 
to  arrange  any  thing  in  a  more  methodical  or 
didactic  shape.  The  proposal  will  lead  me 
first  to  a  few  reminiscences  of  my  own  con- 
nection with  these  interesting  nurseries  of  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

In  the  year  1819,  when  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  I  was  first  sent  forth  by  Bishop  Gris- 
wold,  as  a  young  laborer  in  the  Gospel,  under 
the  title  of  what  we  call  in  the  Episcopal 
Church  a  Lay  Header,  which  included,  in  those 
days,  the  utmost  range  of  personal  exhortation 


8  QUINCY,   MASS. 

and  preaching.  I  was  directed  by  him  to  the 
temporary  charge  of  a  small,  vacant  Episcopal 
church  in  Quincy,  Mass.  A  few  scattered  fam- 
ilies and  individuals  made  up  the  congregation, 
of  whom  two  ladies,  still  living  and  useful  in 
the  church,  agreed  to  unite  with  me  in  the 
opening  of  a  Sunday-school.  Such  an  enter- 
prise had  never  been  undertaken  or  seen  by 
either  of  us  ;  nor  had  there  ever  been  a  Sun- 
day-school in  the  town.  But  the  zeal  and 
love  of  young  Christians,  earnest  in  the  Lord's 
service,  will  furnish  both  the  model  and  the 
accomplishment  of  what  they  are  prompted  to 
undertake  for  him.  We  scoured  the  town 
among  the  families  to  whom  we  had  access, 
and  among  whom  we  could  circulate  our  noti- 
ces, to  invite  children  of  all  kinds  to  our  school 
on  the  appointed  Sabbath.  To  our  amaze- 
ment, when  the  morning  arrived,  we  found  per- 
haps fifty  children  assembled,  a  larger  number 
than  our  whole  congregation  had  ever  been  be- 
fore. Our  youthful  hearts  rejoiced,  and  our  in- 
experienced hands  were  full.  There  were  four 
teachers  besides  myself — the  two  young  ladies, 


QUINCY,    MASS.  9 

and  two  young  men  whose  family  attended  the 
church.  We  knew  but  little  of  the  work  we 
had  undertaken,  but  we  had  hearts  that  desired 
to  work,  and  a  love  for  the  enterprise  with 
which  the  Lord  had  so  remarkably  honored  us. 
We  labored  on  with  a  happy  spirit  and  suc- 
cessful results.  The  first  boy  whose  name  I 
took  at  the  opening  of  that  school,  has  been 
for  more  than  twenty  years  a  distinguished 
minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  One  of  the 
two  male  teachers  gave  his  life  to  the  Foreign 
Missionary  work,  and  died  in  Ceylon.  The 
other  was  taken  away  while  in  his  course  of 
theological  study,  and  the  two  ladies  are  still 
living,  active  and  useful  in  the  Lord's  work. 
Little  as  I  knew  then,  this  first  Sunday- 
school  was  a  very  exciting  and  stirring  event  of 
my  life.  It  had  the  effeqt  of  an  entire  enlist- 
ment of  my  affections  and  efforts  in  this  work. 
But  my  subsequent  early  ministry  was  for  sev- 
eral years  in  a  very  scattered  and  wide-spread 
country,  where  the  gathering  of  large  Sunday- 
schools  was  impossible.  And  yet  I  have  but 
the  last  week  received  a  letter  from  the  Sunday 


10  ST.   PAUL'S,   PHILADELPHIA. 

school  missionary  laboring  in  that  region  of  the 
South,  informing  me  that  thirty  public  prima- 
ry school-rooms  in  the  county  are  now  offered 
for  Sunday-school  occupation,  and  asking  my 
co-operation  in  furnishing  means  for  libraries 
for  their  use.  So  remarkably  has  the  work 
progressed  and  enlarged  in  our  day. 

In  the  spring  of  1829,  I  was  called  to  St. 
Paul's  church,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
where  there  had  been  Sunday-schools,  very  com- 
plete and  well  arranged,  from  1816.  There 
were  in  those  schools  perhaps  four  hundred 
children.  They  made  a  very  effective  arrange- 
ment in  both  sexes,  from  adult  Bible-classes 
down  to  infant  schools.  The  best  and  most 
intelligent  members  of  the  church  were  en- 
gaged in  them.  Many  of  the  most  influential 
of  the  officers  of  the  church  were  also  occu- 
pied in  them.  They  were  wisely,  intelligently, 
and  efficiently  conducted.  They  made  the  very 
field  of  labor  for  which  I  had  longed,  and  which 
I  ardently  and  instantly  embraced.  I  organized 
a  weekly  lecture  on  the  lesson  for  the  teachers, 
and  had  beside  a  weekly  Bible-class  of  ladies, 


ST.    PAUL'S,    PHILADELPHIA.  11 

including  the  female  teachers.  I  spent  every 
Sabbath  morning  in  a  personal  visitation  of  all 
the  schools,  examining  the  classes  and  aiding  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power  in  the  work  of  teach- 
ing, often  having  the  opportunity  to  take  some 
vacant  class,  and  thus  come  into  direct  contact 
with  the  children  themselves.  I  gave  every 
Sunday  afternoon,  when  our  public  service  was 
in  the  evening,  to  a  personal  address  to  all  the 
schools  combined. 

A  whole  generation  has  since  passed  away. 
The  children  of  that  day  are  now  the  active 
mature  workers  in  our  churches.  More  than 
ten  of  them  have  become  preachers  of  the 
Gospel.  Over  one  hundred  and  fifty  have 
given  themselves  to  the  Lord's  service  in  the 
lay  fellowship  and  labor  of  the  churches. 
How  many  more  of  all  these  clusters  of 
fruit  have  been  gathered  since,  from  the  same 
heavenly  plant,  I  have  no  adequate  means 
of  knowing.  Those  schools  have  all  been 
maintained  in  all  their  efficiency  to  the  present 
time.  Never  were  they  so  strong  and  prosper- 
ous as  under  the  present  rector  of  St.  Paul's, 


12  EPIPHANY,   PHILADELPHIA. 

who  was  one  of  the  boys  of  that  day,  and  who 
has  proved  himself  so  earnest,  and  successful 
in  the  Sunday-school  work,  in  his  ministry  since. 
I  imagine  these  schools  may  be  regarded  as  a 
model  of  successful  effort  at  the  present  day. 

Five  years'  ministry  at  St.  Paul's  prepared 
me  with  a  knowledge  and  experience  which 
were  brought  into  operation  in  the  successful 
founding  and  establishment  of  the  Church 
of  the  Epiphany  in  the  same  city.  That 
church  was  founded  upon  the  Sunday-school. 
Its  energy  and  strength  were  given  to  the 
school.  Previously  the  Sunday-school  had 
been  considered  an  appendage  to  the  church, 
and  by  some  ministers  and  members  a  trouble- 
some appendage.  We  founded  this  church 
with  the  distinct  understanding  and  plan,  that 
the  Sunday-school  should  be  the  main  and 
prominent  object  of  regard,  and  its  convenience 
and  successful  operation  thoroughly  provided 
for;  and  we  carried  out  this  principle  com- 
pletely. These  schools  in  their  general  features 
were  arranged  as  those  at  St.  Paul's.  They 
were  opened  in  December,   1834,   with  four 


EPIPHANY,    PHILADELPHIA.  13 

teachers  and  ten  scholars  in  the  male  school, 
and  five  teachers  and  fifteen  scholars  in  the 
female  school.  They  were  left  by  me  in  1845, 
when  I  removed  to  New  York,  with  thirty- 
eight  teachers  and  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  scholars  in  the  male,  and  forty-two  teach- 
ers and  four  hundred  and  twenty- three  scholars 
in  the  female  department.  I  have  never  seen 
elsewhere,  schools  at  all  equal  to  them  in  the 
whole  scheme  and  elements  of  successful  ope- 
ration. They  were  blessed  with  many  very 
precious  evidences  of  the  Lord's  presence  and 
grace,  and  large  numbers  from  them  were  gath- 
ered to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  already 
many  young  ministers  are  in  the  Lord's  work, 
who  have  gone  forth  from  them.  To  these 
schools,  I  continued  my  habit  of  a  weekly  lec- 
ture to  teachers,  a  weekly  female  Bible-class,  a 
monthly  address  to  the  schools,  and  the  giving 
of  every  Sunday  morning  to  a  supervision  of 
the  work  as  it  went  on.  In  these  I  established 
also  an  Anniversary,  with  the  donation  of  books 
to  every  scholar,  as  a  token  of  our  mutual  in- 
terest and  affection.    And  when  I  survey  my 


14  EPIPHANY,   PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia  work  of  sixteen  years,  no  part  of 
it  seems  to  me  to  have  been  so  remunerative 
and  happy  as  my  connection  with  my  Sunday- 
schools.  Incidents  and  facts  of  this  connec- 
tion may  come  up  in  some  future  communica- 
tions. But  they  were  happy,  useful,  and 
improving  hours  which  were  so  occupied. 
And  God  was  pleased  very  largely  to  add  his 
blessing  to  the  work.  No  toil  could  be  more 
delightful,  or  bearing  richer  fruits. 


II. 


ST.   GEORGE'S,  NEW  YORK. — NEW  CHURCH. — SCHOOLS  IN  NEW 
CHURCH. — EXERCISES  AND  PLANS  FOR  SCHOOLS. 

.  EKHAPS  an  apology  is  necessary  for  en- 
tering so  largely  upon  the  history  of 
my  own  personal  relations  to  Sunday- 
schools.  But  understanding  your  desire 
to  be  a  practical  account  of  my  individ- 
ual experience  and  observation  of  the  working 
and  results  of  these  precious  nurseries  of  our 
youth,  I  saw  no  way  to  get  at  it  so  simply  and 
naturally,  as  by  the  introduction  of  a  personal 
narrative.  Do  not  blame  me  then  in  the  utter- 
ance of  stories  of  pergonal  affection  and  in- 
terest. In  1845,  I  was  most  unexpectedly 
transferred  in  my  ministry  to  this  city.  St. 
George's  church  had  always  been  distinguished 
for  a  lively  and  active  interest  in  Sunday- 
schools,  and  honored  by  the  labors  of  a  faith- 
ful pastor  and  an  earnest  body  of  teachers. 


16  NEW   CHURCH. 

But  our  removal  of  the  church  to  a  new  field 
of  labor  occurred  so  soon  after  my  coming  into 
the  pastoral  relation  here,  that  I  had  no  oppor- 
tunity in  the  old  church  to  do  more  than  to 
co-operate,  as  earnestly  and  actively  as  I  could, 
in  the  limited  schools  which  I  found  in  Beek- 
man  street.  We  entered  upon  our  new  under- 
taking in  the  autumn  of  1847,  but  did  not  oc- 
cupy our  new  church  until  November,  1848, 
nor  till  a  year  after  that,  had  we  any  building 
apart  from  the  church  in  which  the  schools 
might  be  held.  Till  then  we  struggled  -on  in 
the  gallery  of  the  church,  in  a  very  scattered 
and  unsatisfactory  way. 

But  our  new  enterprise  was  in  its  very  foun- 
dation and  purpose,  like  the  Epiphany,  a  Sun- 
day-school church.  Several  of  the  officers  of 
the  church  became  engaged  in  the  work.  The 
Vestry  adopted  it  and  provided  for  it  in  the 
most  liberal  and  effective  manner.  Appropria- 
tions and  arrangements  for  its  convenience  and 
accommodation  were  made  with  cheerfulness 
and  pleasure.  A  cordial  and  lively  interest  in 
the  work  always  marked  their  deliberations 


SCHOOLS   IN   NEW   CHURCH.  17 

and  plans ;  and  much  of  the  prosperity  of  these 
schools  has  depended  upon  this  zeal  and  gener- 
ous interest  in  them  on  the  part  of  the  Vestry 
of  this  church.  We  have  never  needed  funds, 
or  laborers,  or  affectionate  support,  which  have 
not  been  at  once  forthcoming  and  efficient.  The 
children  of  our  congregation  have,  as  a  rule,  uni- 
formly attended  our  Sunday-school,  and  thus 
every  family  in  the  church,  rich  and  poor,  have 
felt  themselves  possessed  of  a  common  property 
and  a  common  responsibility  in  everything 
which  has  concerned  the  welfare  and  success 
of  the  undertaking. 

We  commenced  our  school  in  October,  1847, 
in  the  University  chapel,  with  about  thirty  chil- 
dren of  all  classes,  and  in  the  year  of  our  oc- 
cupation there,  could  grow  but  little.  But  it 
was  a  living  coal,  however  small,  and  though 
a  little  matter,  kindled  for  us  a  great  fire.  In 
the  spring  of  1850,  when  we  held  our  first  an- 
niversary, we  had  grown  to  forty-two  teachers 
and  five  hundred  and  five  scholars.  This  was 
the  first  year  of  our  meeting  in  our  new  chapel, 
and  the  first  spring  after  the  completion  of  our 


18  '  SCHOOLS   IN   NEW   CHURCH. 

church.  Iii  two  more  years,  so  rapidly  had 
we  grown,  that  our  third  anniversary  gave  us 
a  total  of  one  thousand  and  two.  Our  infant 
school,  which  was  commenced  in  the  organ  gal- 
lery of  the  church  with  eleven  children  in  1849, 
had  now  enlarged  to  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight,  under  the  same  teacher.  The  crowds  in 
our  one  building,  and  the  multitudes  of  poor 
children  still  seeking  admission,  compelled  us 
after  this  to  engage  in  the  establishment  of  a 
mission  school,  of  which  I  shall  desire  to  speak 
in  a  separate  account.  Our  sixth  anniversary, 
the  first  which  included  the  mission  school, 
presented  ninety-five  teachers  and  one  thous- 
and five  hundred  and  thirty-six  scholars.  And 
this  has  remained  about  our  average  number 
since.  Our  tenth  anniversary,  in  the  spring  of 
1859,  closed  with  one  hundred  and  six  teachers 
and  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-five 
scholars.  But  in  these  ten  years  more  than 
ten  different  schools  had  been  established  by 
other  churches  in  the  field  which  we  had  at 
first  occupied  alone.  I  had  always  anticipated 
a  diminution  of  our  numbers  as  inevitable,  un- 


.       EXERCISES   AND   PLANS   FOR   SCHOOLS.      19 

der  a  process  like  this.  We  have  found,  how- 
ever, no  essential  difference  in  our  own  number, 
while  there  are  probably  near  two  thousand 
children  now  gathered  in  other  Sunday-schools 
of  various  kinds,  within  the  limits  which  were 
then  our  sole  domain.  It  is  to  me  a  very 
happy  and  grateful  thought  that  our  efforts 
have  not  been  without  their  influence  in  en- 
couraging and  fostering  these  adjuvant  efforts, 
so  that  God  may  have  made  us  a  blessing  be- 
yond our  own  direct  labor  and  immediate  rela- 
tions. With  the  attainment  of  such  a  result, 
I  should  have  felt  no  surprise,  and  I  trust  no 
sorrow,  at  a  necessary  lessening  of  our  num- 
bers, in  the  more  general  spreading  of  the  in- 
fluence and  the  work  around  us.  If  our  poor 
children  may  be  taught  the  Saviour's  word,  and 
fed  with  the  Saviour's  love,  I  trust  it  will  be 
always  our  part  and  purpose  only  to  rejoice, 
whoever  may  be  made  the  blessed  instruments 
of  the  glorious  result. 

In  the  organization  of  the  schools  now  un- 
der my  more  immediate  notice  and  care,  ex- 
cepting for  the  present  all  reference  to  our  mis- 


20      EXERCISES  AND   PLANS  FOR   SCHOOLS.      . 

sion  schools,  we  have  six  different  rooms  for 
instruction.  One  infant  school  under  two 
teachers,  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  chil- 
dren ;  another  infant  school  under  one  teacher, 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  children ;  two 
female  Bible-classes,  one  of  fifty-seven  and  an- 
other of  thirty-nine  young  ladies,  in  two  sep- 
arate rooms,  under  two  female  teachers ;  a 
young  men's  Bible-class  of  thirty-three  mem- 
bers, with  one  teacher ;  and  in  our  main 
school,  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  girls 
and  two  hundred  and  forty  boys,  under  fifty- 
eight  teachers.  All  these  have  always  been 
under  the  superintendence  of  one  executive 
head  as  superintendent.  We  have  thus  means 
and  arrangements  for  appropriate  teaching  for 
every  age  and  class  from  three  years  old  to  full 
maturity.  All  these  departments  are  in  com- 
plete and  successful  operation,  and  under  the 
most  harmonious  arrangement  and  control. 
For  the  first  seven  years  of  our  growth  and 
establishment  here,  I  was  favored  with  the 
aid  of  two  valued  and  efficient  laymen,  who 
successively  had  the  superintendence  of  this 


EXERCISES   AND   PLANS   FOR   SCHOOLS.      21 

large  array  of  youth.  Since  their  necessary 
separation  from  the  work,  I  have  taken  the 
entire  personal  superintendence  myself.  From 
the  commencement  of  this  school,  I  have  never 
failed  to  go  through  all  these  rooms  and  classes, 
and  to  maintain  a  personal  inspection  and 
oversight  of  the  whole  operation  in  all  its 
branches  and  its  practical  details.  For  the  last 
three  years  I  have  given  my  whole  time  and 
presence  to  their  actual  personal  management, 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  session.  If 
you  should  be  disposed  to  ask  why  I  have  un- 
dertaken this  additional  labor,  I  can  only  say, 
because  my  whole  experience  of  the  operation 
has  so  enlarged  my  sense  of  its  importance, 
and  my  affectionate  personal  interest  therein, 
that  I  have  felt  it  a  vast  pleasure  and  enjoy- 
ment to  be  myself  personally  and  constantly 
engaged  in  its  duties  and  its  success.  I  have 
around  me  valued  laymen  whom  I  should  be 
glad  to  see  earnestly  at  work,  and  very  faithful 
teachers  who  are  constantly  so.  But  thus  far, 
neither  the  amount  of  actual  toil,  nor  the  im- 
portance of  keeping  the  lay  power  of   the 


22      EXERCISES   AND   PLANS  FOR   SCHOOLS. 

church  engaged,  has  been  sufficient  to  over- 
come my  own  selfish  delight  in  the  occupation, 
or  my  unwillingness  to  relinquish  it.  Perhaps 
in  this  I  have  been  wrong.  But  I  have  seen 
some  very  blessed  and  valuable  results  arising 
from  the  labors  thus  pursued.  And  in  a  future 
consideration  of  some  general  elements  and 
principles  involved  and  developed  in  the  whole 
process,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  this 
subject  more  particularly  again. 

In  these  schools,  from  their  commencement, 
I  have  given  a  weekly  lecture  on  every  Friday 
evening,  on  the  lesson  for  the  ensuing  Sunday, 
trying  in  this  method  to  illustrate  not  merely 
the  subjects  involved,  but  also  the  simplest  and 
most  effectual  manner  of  teaching.  The  great 
object  in  this  lecture  always  is  to  bring  out  the 
important  evangelical  principles  which  are  ex- 
hibited in  every  portion  of  Scripture  history 
as  well  as  teaching,  that  our  children  may 
learn  to  see  the  Saviour,  and  something  of  his 
grace,  everywhere  in  the  words  of  Divine  in- 
spiration. I  have  always  thought  that  every 
portion  of  the  Word  of  God  speaks  of  his  sal- 


EXERCISES   AND   PLANS   FOR   SCHOOLS.      23 

vation, '  in  some  illustration  or  description, 
either  of  its  agencies,  its  principles,  or  its  re- 
sults. And  therefore  if  teachers  can  be  as- 
sisted in  bringing  out  this  hidden  light  of 
Divine  truth,  that  it  may  all  shine  upon  the 
Saviour,  to  their  children,  as  it  all  shines  from 
him  in  the  Word,  they  may  gain  advantages 
of  precious  value  to  themselves  while  they  are 
imparting  like  precious  instruction  in  living 
truths  to  the  children  before  them.  I  have 
thrown  this  into  the  shape  of  a  familiar  per- 
sonal lecture,  rather  than  a  catechetical  exam- 
ination with  the  teachers,  because  the  interest 
seems  greater  to  them,  and  the  same  oppor- 
tunity is  given  to  other  members  of  the  con- 
gregation who  desire  it,  to  gain  the  same  bene- 
fit of  simple  practical  instruction  in  the  Word 
of  God. 

I  have  always  felt  the  importance  of  some 
further  personal  relations  to  the  Sunday-school 
than  could  be  maintained  merely  through  the 
teachers.  And  from  the  time  of  my  first  re- 
moval to  Philadelphia,  I  established  a  monthly 
sermon  for  the  children,  in  order  to  bring  my 


i  TTXTT^ 


TTKIVI 


24      EXERCISES   AND   PLANS   FOR   SCHOOLS. 

personal  instructions  more  directly  to  bear 
upon  them.  This  monthly  address  on  Sunday 
afternoon  I  have  continued  until  the  past  year, 
when  my  morning  opportunity  seemed  to  ren- 
der it  no  longer  especially  necessary.  But 
when  our  new  St.  George's  was  opened  in 
1848,  such  was  the  attendance  of  youth  around 
me,  that  I  was  not  satisfied  with  the  amount 
of  direct  attention  which  was  given  to  them. 
I  then  made  the  sermon  of  every  Sunday  after- 
noon a  sermon  to  the  young.  This  plan  I 
have  continued  to  the  present  time.  It  has 
been  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  effective 
of  my  labors  in  the  ministry.  I  have  pursued 
a  course  of  connected  instruction  in  series  of 
plain  and  intelligible  lectures  on  various  Scrip- 
ture biographies,  of  which  Euth  and  Esther 
have  been  published, — on  Scriptural  plants, 
and  animals,  and  mountains, — on  Scriptural 
religion  as  exhibited  in  youth, — on  the  Para- 
bles, etc.,  till  I  have  now  gone  through  eleven 
years  of  such  continued  instruction.  And  the 
Lord  has  been  pleased  very  graciously  and 
mercifully    to    own    this   teaching  in    many 


EXERCISES   AND   PLANS   FOR   SCHOOLS.      25 

cases  of  conversion  to  himself,  and  in  much 
real  edification  of  youth  in  his  service.  I 
have  considered  no  part  of  my  work  more 
valuable  and  important  than  this.  And  cer- 
tainly no  portion  of  it  has  seemed  so  popu- 
lar and  acceptable  to  others.  In  addition 
to  these  instruments,  I  have  employed  lectures 
and  exhibitions  with  the  magic  lantern  as  an 
instrument  of  interesting  the  children  in  the 
school,  and  creating  a  happy  and  innocent  op- 
tunity  of  amusement  for  them.  Other  ele- 
ments of  our  plan  will  occur  for  notice  in 
some  future  heads  of  remark  upon  this  subject. 
Thus  fifteen  more  years  of  my  personal  rela- 
tions to  Sunday-schools  have  passed  away, 
and  another  generation  has  come  to  maturity 
under  my  care.  And  I  still  look  upon  the  oc- 
cupation with  increasing  delight.  It  seems  to 
me  every  year  more  and  more  remunerative 
and  encouraging  as  a  ministry  for  Christ,  in 
every  way  within  my  power  to  feed  his  lambs. 


III. 

FAILURE  OF  TEACHERS. — ADVANTAGES  OF  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. — 
CONVERSION  OF  CHILDREN. — RESULTS  OF  EFFORTS. — RE- 
VIVAL IN  ST.  PAUL'S. — FRUITS  OF  TEACHING. 

^Y  outline  of  personal  history  has 
brought  me  to  a  point  at  which,  per- 
haps, I  may  be  permitted  to  apply 
the  results  of  experience  and  observa- 
tion to  a  wider  and  more  abstract  field, 
in  reference  to  the  important  subject  involved. 
Forty  years'  active  interest  and  intelligent  con- 
sideration connected  with  our  Sunday-schools, 
have  convinced  me  more  and  more  of  their  value 
and  efficiency  as  an  instrument  of  blessing  to 
the  church  of  God.  During  this  period  I  have 
seen  the  waxing  and  waning  of  many  individ- 
ual agencies  in  this  connection.  I  have 
known  brethren  who  were  once  earnest  advo- 
cates of  the  system,  and  have  preached  and 
prayed  for  its  prosperity,  giving  up  in  despair 


FAILURE   OF   TEACHERS.  27 

or  in  disgust,  and  refusing  longer  to  bear  the 
anxiety  and  trial  involved  in  its  support.  I 
have  seen  many  teachers,  of  both  sexes,  wearied 
and  exhausted,  either  with  the  fatigue  of  the 
labor,  or  the  failure  of  success,  and  retiring 
from  the  whole  field,  to  undertake  its  culti- 
vation no  more.  I  can  only  say  for  myself, 
the  influence  of  the  operation  on  my  mind  has 
been  precisely  the  reverse.  Never  have  I  felt 
the  importance  of  the  work  more  really  ;  and 
never  was  I  more  determined  to  continue  my 
labors  in  it  while  my  Master  shall  give  me 
opportunity  and  his  blessing.  And  I  have,  in 
the  circle  of  my  most  valued  acquaintance, 
many  teachers  who  have  labored  faithfully  for 
years,  and  are  still  unwearied,  and  some  who 
were  active  in  the  work  before  I  began,  and  are 
still  earnestly  engaged  therein".  I  desire  to  re- 
cord my  testimony  as  the  result  of  my  whole 
experience,  that,  in  my  judgment,  there  is  no 
department  of  Christian  labor  more  vitally 
influential  upon  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel — 
more  remunerative  in  its  immediate  results  of 
blessing  to  the  soul  engaged — more  effective  in 


28        ADVANTAGES   OF   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

maintaining  and  enlarging  the  best  interests 
of  the  Christian  church  and  the  most  efficient 
operation  of  the  Christian  ministry. 

Yet  my  personal  experience  has  not  been 
without  a  clear  perception  of  the  difficulties 
and  defects  in  the  practical  operation,  and  in 
the  way  of  full  and  desired  success.  But 
these  lead  to  the  consideration  of  the  very 
practical  question,  What  advantages  have  we 
a  right  to  expect  from  our  Sunday-schools,  as 
fair  and  legitimate  results  ?  This  is  a  ques- 
tion which  long  practice,  and,  perhaps,  still 
more,  repeated  disappointments,  will  very 
naturally  force  upon  the  mind.  And  the 
more  earnest  is  the  interest  felt  in  the  opera- 
tion, necessarily  the  more  anxious  and  habit- 
ual will  be  the  consideration  of  this  question. 
My  own  answer  to  this  question,  arising  from 
anticipations  always  cherished,  and  from  act- 
ual results  partly  attained,  would  involve  sev- 
eral important  particulars. 

I  should,  first  of  all,  say,  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  the  actual  conversion  of  our  children, 
under  the  influence  of  Divine  truth  faithfully 


CONVERSION   OF    CHILDREN.  29 

and  siniply  taught.  The  grand  uniform  in- 
struction of  the  Sunday-school  is  to  be  in  the 
Word  of  truth ;  and  supposing  the  praying 
and  experienced  Christian  teacher  expounding 
and  applying  this,  with  a  dependence  on  the 
heavenly  teaching  to  bless  his  own,  we  surely 
may  look  for  that  manifestation  of  the  power 
of  this  transforming  truth  to  the  children's 
minds  and  hearts.  This,  or  any  subsequent 
suggestion  will  not  be  pursued  by  me,  in  any 
shape  of  controversy  or  argument.  I  shall 
simply  state  what  are  my  own  personal  views 
and  conclusions.  I  cannot  consent  to  any 
lower  result,  as  a  satisfactory  object  and  pur- 
pose in  a  teacher's  mind,  than  this.  The 
teacher's  thought  and  plan  must  be  that  of  a 
real  and  living  messenger  of  Christ,  to  a  little 
congregation  whose  eternity  may  depend  upon 
this  immediate  relation  and  opportunity,  and 
whose  salvation,  never  to  be  secured  but  in  a 
cordial  acceptance  of  a  Saviour's  finished  work 
of  love,  may  be  secured  under  the  present 
agency,  and  with  the  Divine  blessing  on  the 

means-  now  faithfully  employed.    And  in  the 
13* 


30  RESULTS   OF   EFFORTS. 

faithful  and  earnest  employment  of  these 
means  we  have  a  right  to  look  for  the  conver- 
sion of  children  to  Jesus,  and  their  living  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  for  God.  The  qualifications 
of  adequate  teachers  I  do  not  now  consider, 
but  suppose  them  fully  and  actually  possessed 
and  exercised.  This  being  so,  the  pastor,  the 
parents,  and  the  church  may  justly  desire  and 
expect  that  God  will  bless  the  work  with  this 
all-important  result.  A  seed  will  be  growing 
up  in  the  church  who  shall  really  serve  him. 

When  I  survey  the  actual  results  of  bless- 
ing which  I  have  witnessed  under  this  one 
great  head,  I  have  much  reason  to  bear  my 
testimony  that  God  has  never  failed  to  bless 
his  Word,  thus  faithfully  ministered,  in  some 
degree.  I  certainly  have  never  seen  the  full- 
ness of  these  spiritual  fruits  which  I  have  de- 
sired. Yet  I  have  not  been  without  frequent 
proofs  of  the  love  and  presence  of  God  as  a 
Saviour  among  us  in  the  conversion  of  our 
children.  In  the  thirty-one  years  during 
which  I  have  now  been  a  city  pastor,  and  per- 
sonally connected  with  large  schools,  I  have 


REVIVAL   IN    ST.   PAUL'S.  31 

received  to  the  Lord's  table  over  three  hun- 
dred youth  of  both  sexes,  directly  from  the 
Sunday-school.  And  I  have  no  doubt  I  might 
with  equal  truth  add  two  hundred  more,  unit- 
ing with  us  from  the  resulting  influence  of 
previous  Sunday-school  instruction.  This 
is  doubtless  a  great  and  blessed  result,  which 
must  give  joy  in  the  kingdom  of  God  for  ever. 
Yet  it  has  hardly  been  one  in  ten  of  the  chil- 
dren to  whom  I  have  seen  these  priceless 
blessings  dispensed,  and  over  whose  favored 
youth  I  have  watched  as  a  pastor.  An  early 
revival  in  St.  Paul's  church  in  Philadelphia, 
commenced  in  our  weekly  Sunday-school 
prayer-meeting  on  Saturday  evening.  The 
exercises  closed,  and  the  people  were  dis- 
missed, when,  rising  from  my  place,  I  counted 
sixteen  of  our  youth  still  on  their  knees  on  the 
floor.  They  were  apparently  immovable  from 
their  position,  and  in  deep  emotion.  I  went 
from  one  to  the  other  with  a  few  words  of 
affectionate  and  pastoral  conversation,  and 
appointed  Monday  evening  as  an  occasion  for 
their  special  assembly.     On  the  next  day  I 


32  SICK  GIRL. 

gave  notice  of  this  appointment,  and  over 
seventy  youth  met  me  for  instruction  and 
prayer.  It  was  the  divine  commencement  of 
a  very  remarkable  work  of  mercy.  The  result 
was  the  addition  of  over  one  hundred,  mostly 
from  the  Sunday-school,  to  the  communion  of 
the  Church.  The  subjects  of  that  work  are 
now  active  and  earnest  Christians,  in  the  ma- 
turity of  grace.  Many  such  results,  upon  a 
narrower  scale,  have  I  since  witnessed,  and  in 
every  class  of  society,  in  connection  with  our 
Sunday-schools.  I  was  called,  in  Philadelphia, 
to  visit  a  sick  girl  in  a  very  worldly  and  irre- 
ligious household,  with  whom  I  had  but  little 
acquaintance — and  went,  anticipating  only  a 
painful  visit  of  warning  to  a  careless  soul. 
To  my  astonishment,  I  found  a  gentle  child 
of  grace,  perhaps  eighteen  years  of  age,  sink- 
ing in  a  consumption,  but  perfectly  clear  in 
mind,  and  happy  in  hope.  "  How,"  I  asked, 
"  have  you  learned  all  this  in  your  condition 
here  ?"  Her  answer  was  most  precious.  "  I 
had  a  faithful  Sunday-school  teacher — and 
though  I  left  her  some  years  ago,  and  never 


HAPPY   RESULTS.  33 

gave  her  much  satisfaction,  yet  when  1  was 
taken  sick,  I  took  my  little  Bible,  and  went 
over  the  lessons  she  used  to  teach  me — and 
God  has  taught  me  here  alone/'  She  then 
showed  me  her  little  Bible — turned  down  and 
marked  with  many  Sunday-school  lessons — 
her  constant  and  loved  companion.  Dear 
child — she  had  no  other  religious  companion. 
But  she  departed  in  sweet  peace  and  hope — 
and  my  visits  to  her  while  she  lived  were  full 
of  satisfaction  and  delight.  Similar  instances 
of  actual  conversion  under  Sunday-school  in- 
struction have  occurred  in  such  numbers  that 
I  might  fill  many  sheets  of  paper  with  them. 
I  have  seen  them  manifested  in  children  from 
six  years  old  and  upwards  ;  infants  giving  a 
clear  account  of  their  hope  in  Jesus,  and  love 
to  Him — and  thus,  according  to  the  promise 
of  the  Spirit,  "  perfecting  His  praise/'  I  have 
seen  whole  families  brought  to  Christ  under 
such  influence,  who  were  far  off  from  all 
Christian  habits  even,  until  little  ones  carried 
home  from  the  Sunday-school  the  life-giving 
messages  of  truth.     I  have  seen  most  interest- 


34  WHAT    MIGHT   BE   DONE. 

esting  exhibitions  of  deep  and  real  religious 
fervor  and  faithfulness  in  the  actual  instruc- 
tion ;  teachers  and  children  really  alive  to 
their  work,  and  completely  engaged  in  its  en- 
joyment. But  as  I  have  marked  these  blessed 
results,  demonstrated  possible  and  within 
reach,  my  heart  has  longed  to  see  a  constant 
and  extended  manifestation  of  such  Divine 
influence  in  this  youthful  congregation.  When 
I  have  looked  upon  them  in  their  gathering 
and  occupation,  and  spread  before  my  anxious 
mind  the  value  of  their  youth,  the  precious- 
ness  of  their  opportunities,  the  peculiar  advan- 
tages of  their  assembly,  the  direct  promises 
and  illustrations  connected  with  the  young, 
and  seen  what  might  be  attained  in  all,  from 
what  had  been  attained  in  so  many,  I  have 
often  been  disturbed  and  overwhelmed  by  the 
want  of  real  efficiency  and  vital  power  con- 
nected with  the  occupation.  I  have  doubted 
whether  the  real  expectation  and  object  in  the 
teachers'  minds  were  the  conversion  of  the 
souls  of  children.  How  precious  has  appeared 
that  short  hour  of  instruction  !     How  import- 


DEPORTMENT  OF  TEACHERS.       35 

ant  every  impression  which  was  to  be  made 
on  those  open  and  plastic  minds  !  And  when 
levity  or  carelessness  have  occupied  the  place 
of  deep  seriousness  and  concern  in  the  little 
assemblies  around  me,  and  teachers  and  chil- 
dren have  appeared  listless,  or  indifferent,  or 
trifling,  I  confess  my  soul  has  sunk  in  many  a 
moment  of  despondency  and  distress.  I  have 
longed  for  a  seriousness  and  solemnity,  con- 
nected with  cheerfulness  and  agreeable  rela- 
tions on  the  teachers'  part,  which  would  indi- 
cate their  apprehension  of  the  unspeakable 
importance  of  their  employment,  and  value  of 
the  influence  to  be  exercised.  The  work  has 
often  had  a  tendency  to  run  into  a  mere  amuse- 
ment, and  the  desire  to  make  it  attractive  and 
popular  tends  to  throw  a  worldly  and  secular- 
izing influence  around  it.  It  is  sad  to  think 
that  we  have  often  failed  in  obtaining  the  real 
blessing,  in  the  playful  and  light  character 
which  we  have  given  to  the  occupation,  slnd 
have  sacrificed  to  superficial  enjoyment  the 
more  lasting  happiness  of  real  conversion. 


IV. 

MANNER  OF  TEACHING. — USEFUL  TEACHERS.— JOHN  FARR.— 
YOUNG  FEMALE  TEACHER. — LOVELY  CHILD  IN  EPIPHANY 
SCHOOL. 

feel  encouraged  and  grateful  for  the  ap- 
parent acceptance  and  interest  which  have 
welcomed  my  hurried  attempts  to  comply 
with  your  original  request.  The  subject 
is  very  extensive  and  has  a  great  variety 
of  connections.  Should  I  attempt  to 
touch  them  all,  my  few  familiar  letters  would 
swell  into  a  volume.  The  single  point  now  sug- 
gested, the  advantages  we  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect from  a  faithful  cultivation  of  this  impor- 
tant work,  spreads  out  into  a  variety  of  topics 
for  consideration.  I  have  said  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  the  conversion  of  our  children. 
Upon  this  point  I  would  not  be  unintelligible 
or  indefinite — by  conversion,  I  mean  the  real 
spiritual  turning  of  the  heart  to  God,  and  its 
renewal  for  His  service  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 


MANNER   OF   TEACHING.  37 

This  is  the  only  actual  starting  of  true  Chris- 
tian character :  the  new  creation  of  the  soul 
in  Christ.  Now,  I  suppose,  a  faithful  Chris- 
tian teacher  will  propound  this  to  himself  as 
an  object.  It  will  direct  his  prayers,  his  prep- 
arations, his  methods  of  communication,  and 
all  his  personal  influence  and  intercourse  with 
his  children.  He  will  labor  for  this  great  re- 
sult until  he  gain  it.  He  will  not  be  satisfied 
without  it.  I  do  not  mean  that  he  shall  oc- 
cupy his  time  with  mere  exhortation  to  his 
class.  Still  less  that  he  shall  adopt  a  vehe- 
ment and  imperious  style  of  address  in  his 
work — a  manner  which  I  have  sometimes  seen 
running  into  uncomfortable  noise  and  actual 
disturbance.  The  instrument  of  conversion 
with  children  is  the  same  as  with  adults — the 
Word  of  truth,  the  simple  message  of  redeem- 
ing love.  This  message  speaks  in  the  simplest 
language  in  the  sacred  Word,  and  is  perfectly 
intelligible  to  the  youngest  mind,  nay,  I  often 
think  far  more  so  than  to  elder  and  more  be- 
wildered understandings.     And  if  this  message 

of  actual  pardon  in  the  Saviour's  blood,  real 
4 


38  MANNER   OF   TEACHING. 

salvation  through  His  death  for  all  who  will  re* 
ceive  it,  is  placed  before  the  youthful  minds  as 
designed  for  them  and  belonging  to  them,  with 
the  evidence  of  sincerity  and  earnestness  on  the 
teacher's  part,  we  may  as  reasonably  look  for  a 
blessing  to  attend  the  truth  in  the  experience 
of  children  as  of  adults.  I  call  this  expecta- 
tion a  right,  because  it  seems  to  me  the  sub- 
ject of  divine  promise ;  and  that  which  God 
has  promised,  we  have  an  undoubted  right  to 
ask  and  to  expect.  To  this  one  great  point 
every  lesson  should  be  brought,  and  with  every 
child.  The  full  attainment  of  this  result,  un- 
der the  divine  blessing,  does  not  imply  extra- 
ordinary powers  or  education  on  the  teacher's 
part,  but  a  real  living  experience  of  the  power 
of  the  truth,  and  love  of  the  Word  of  God, 
an  earnest  desire  for  the  salvation  of  those  to 
whom  it  is  offered,  with  a  real  belief  that  they 
can  be,  and  ought  to  be  saved,  under  its  min- 
istration. This  constitutes  the  adaptation  of 
the  ministry  in  the  pulpit,  and  is  equally  the 
instrument  of  blessing  for  precious  souls  in  the 
Sunday-school. 


USEFUL   TEACHERS.  39 

I  have  constantly  had  before  me  very  blessed 
illustrations  of  such  fidelity  and  usefulness  ; 
teachers  to  whom  education,  piety,  and  indus- 
trious preparation  have  combined  to  give  great 
efficiency  for  their  work,  and  whose  earnest  and 
religious  habit  and  character  have  made  them 
most  attractive  and  popular  among  the  youth 
before  them.  I  have  seen  Bible-classes,  both 
.male  and  female,  in  which  there  was  a  constant 
pressure  of  attendance,  and  an  outward  desire 
to  become  partakers  of  the  benefits  there  re- 
ceived, just  as  earnest.  An  intelligent,  earnest, 
and  instructed  teacher,  with  a  mind  and  heart 
engaged  in  the  blessed  work  thus  undertaken, 
believing  in  its  value  and  influence,  and  deter- 
mined to  carry  out  that  influence,  with  the 
Lord's  blessing  and  Spirit,  to  the  utmost,  will 
always  be  popular  and  always  efficient.  Schol- 
ars will  be  punctual  and  happy,  and  God  the 
Saviour  will  never  be  found  slack  in  His  prom- 
ise of  a  blessing  from  heaven  upon  His  Word. 
He  will  sanctify  them  through  His  truth.  Such 
teachers  make  their  mark  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  and  are  held  in  abiding  remembrance. 


40  JOHN   FAKR. 

An  eminent  instance  of  this,  was  John  Farr,  of 
Philadelphia.  He  was  a  native  of  London, 
and  a  chemist  of  practical  wisdom  and  success 
in  business.  He  was  one  of  our  Bible-class 
teachers  at  St.  Paul's — a  model  of  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher.  Truly  spiritual,  thoroughly 
evangelical,  deeply  earnest,  never  wearied,  al- 
ways attractive,  he  made  his  class  to  be  consid- 
ered by  young  men  an  invaluable  privilege.- 
God  blessed  his  labors  with  increasing  manifes- 
tations of  divine  grace  and  power.  Young 
men  now  energetic  and  active  in  their  matu- 
rity, in  every  class  of  the  laborers  in  the  Church 
of  God,  would  to-day  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed.  I  have  no  doubt  if  all  who  found  the 
Saviour  under  his  earnest,  constant  fidelity, 
were  called  to  stand  together  as  witnesses  for 
him,  more  than  one  hundred  young  men  would 
appear  to  testify  for  him  before  the  Lord.  And 
yet  I  speak  of  only  a  portion  of  his  labor  in 
this  cause.  Who  can  estimate  the  full  result 
for  them,  for  the  Church,  for  the  world,  of  such 
labors  as  his  ?  Yet  never  was  there  perhaps  a 
Christian  man  more  unpretending,  unobtrusive, 


YOUNG  FEMALE  TEACHER.        41 

or  simple-hearted  than  he.  He  has  long  since 
entered  into  his  rest  in  the  Saviour's  glory. 
God  grant  to  all  his  scholars  grace  to  hold  on 
in  following  him  to  the  end. 

A  lovely  young  female  teacher  was  taken 
from  us  at  twenty-two  years  of  age.  She 
joined  us  as  a  teacher  at  sixteen,  and  labored 
with  us  but  few  years  before  her  crown  was 
given  to  her.  Yet  her  whole  class  of  girls, 
crowded  always,  seemed  to  listen  to  her  with 
hearts  perfectly  absorbed,  and  felt  the  privilege 
of  being  taught  by  her  one  of  the  greatest 
joys  of  their  life.  Her  fidelity  in  speaking  for 
Jesus  seemed  never  to  fail.  An  evening's  walk 
or  a  casual  meeting  would  bring  out  something 
from  her  that  would  be  a  blessing  to  others. 
Her  household,  her  friends,  all  felt  the  power 
of  her  religion.  More  than  one  young  man  of 
her  acquaintance  traced  his  conversion  to  her 
faithfulness.  I  had  reason  to  believe  that  at 
least  twenty-five  youth  around  her,  and  I  know 
not  how  many  more,  for  my  opportunity  of 
knowledge  was  partial,  were  saved  by  the 
Lord's  blessing  upon  her  short  but  lovely  min- 
4* 


42       YOUNG  FEMALE  TEACHER. 

istry.  Yet  there  was  nothing  that  was  remark- 
able in  her  condition  or  education;  beyond  the 
common  reach  of  young  ladies  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances of  life.  Her  power  was  her  religion, 
her  fidelity  to  Christ.  She  was  a  real;  living 
follower  of  the  Saviour  whom  she  loved,  and 
for  whom  alone  she  lived.  How  brightly  shine 
these  examples  and  memories  of  the  departed  ! 
How  encouraging  to  our  earnestness  and  fidel- 
ity are  their  histories  !  What  a  joy  to  a 
pastor's  heart  are  the  answers  given  by  in- 
quiring youth  in  reference  to  their  own  awaken- 
ing, which  in  these  two  cases  came  to  me  from 

many,  "It  was  Mr.  Farr,  or  Miss ,  who 

first  spoke  to  me,  and  aroused  my  mind  to 
think  of  Christ."  How  paltry  and  sinful 
would  seem  any  jealousy  on  the  part  of  minis- 
ters, of  such  labors  and  success.  I  do  not  re- 
fer to  living  illustrations  of  this  fidelity,  though 
I  might  do  so.  The  past  furnishes  evidence 
enough. 

Now  this  whole  view  of  the  work  also  gives 
the  utmost  encouragement  in  our  observation 
of  its  actual  effect  on  the  minds  of  youth. 


LOVELY   CHiLD   IN    EPIPHANY   SCHOOL.      43 

Here  I  must  only  speak  of  the  past  and  of 
those  who  are  gone.  I  call  to  mind  a  dear 
child  in  our  Sunday-school,  whose  early  death, 
perhaps  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  sealed  a  beau- 
tiful testimony  for  Christ.  My  frequent  visits 
to  her  chamber  of  intense  suffering  were  full 
of  comfort  and  delight.  Such  was  her  bodily 
agony  that  she  could  not  lie  down,  or  hardly 
sleep.  But  her  soul  was  full  of  light  and  joy. 
Yet  her  teaching  had  been  gathered,  perhaps 
wholly,  in  the  Bible-class  and  church.  At 
one  visit  she  said  to  me,  "  My  precious  pastor, 
listen  to  me.  This  is  the  way,  I  think.  First, 
God  the  Father  loved  me,  and  chose  me  for 
His  child ;  then  God  the  Son  loved  me,  and 
came  and  died  for  me  that  I  might  be  His 
child.  Then  God  the  Holy  Ghost  loved  me, 
and  came  and  told  me  I  was  His  child,  and 
made  me  love  Him  as  His  child.  My  precious 
pastor,  is  this  right  ?" 

Blessed  child  of  heaven,  flesh  and  blood  had 
not  revealed  it  to  her,  but  the  Spirit  of  her 
Father  in  heaven.  On  another  visit  she  said, 
"  My  precious  pastor,  I  have  had  such  a  sweet 


44  LOVELY   CHILD 

half-night  of  prayer — no,  perhaps  only  a  third 
of  the  night.  And  I  have  been  praying  for 
you,  and  for  your  dear  son,  that  a  double  por- 
tion of  the  Spirit  may  rest  upon  him — and  for 
our  dear  Epiphany  (my  Philadelphia  church), 
that  God  would  raise  them  up  a  faithful  pas- 
tor, and  for  St.  George's,  that  you  may  be 
made  as  great  a  blessing  to  them  as  you  have 
been  to  us.  And  I  thought  I  should  love  to 
be  with  you  in  St.  George's.  You  know  I  do 
not  know  anybody  there,  but  I  shall  always 
love  them  because  you  are  there.  And  then  I 
thought,  after  I  am  gone,  if  I  were  permitted, 
I  should  ask  Jesus  to  let  me  visit  you  in  that 
dear  church."  Much  more  she  added  in  the 
same  strain,  just  as  fresh  in  my  memory,  but 
this  is  enough.  She  sat  upon  her  bed  with 
her  head,  leaning  forward  upon  her  knees,  and 
her  hands  clasped  around  them.  At  another 
visit  I  found  her  sitting  much  in  the  same  pos- 
ture in  an  easy  chair.  She  said  "  My  precious 
pastor," — she  never  addressed  me  by  any  other 
title — "I'  have  had  such  a  sweet  dream  of 
heaven  last  night.      Do   you  remember  the 


IN   EPIPHANY   SCHOOL.  45 

little  sermon  you  preached  to  us  about  Sweet 
Words  and  Bitter  Words  ?  Well,  I  thought 
the  language  of  heaven  was  made  up  of  all  the* 
sweet  words  of  earth,  and  there  were  no  bitter 
words  there,  and  it  seemed  so  lovely  to  have 
everybody  speak  to  me  so."  These  are  a  few 
scraps  from  a  multitude  of  memories  of  that 
lovely  child  of  God.  Her  faithful  teacher  is 
still  living,  and  has  even  perhaps  a  fuller 
memory  and  a  fuller  joy  than  I  in  this  re- 
lation. 

These  are  illustrations  of  actual  results. 
They  are  deeply  interesting,  but  not  peculiar. 
Every  really  flourishing  Sunday-school  can 
furnish  them.  Every  pastor,  alive  in  this 
work,  has  such  sheaves  in  his  bosom.  Every 
earnest,  praying  teacher  will  probably  have 
some  similar  testimony.  They  are  but  some 
that  have  occurred  to  my  mind  while  I  have 
been  writing  this  letter.  Memory  will  perhaps 
recall  many  others.  But  these  illustrate  the 
great  purpose  and  the  rightful  result  of  our 
teaching  in  the  Word  of  God.  Why  should 
it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible,  that  God 


46  HOPEFUL   KESULTS. 

should  do  this  for  our  children  ?  Bather, 
why  should  we  not  expect  it,  labor  for  it,  an- 
ticipate it;  as  the  natural,  practical  result  ? 
This  blessed  result  may  come  in  a  variety 
of  manifestations,  not  always  suddenly,  not 
always  immediately,  not  always  with  much 
observation.  Sometimes  after  long  trying 
of  faith,  and  prayer,  and  patience.  Some- 
times after  the  actual  connection  of  the 
teacher  and  the  scholar  has  been  sundered. 
But  its  possibility,  its  likelihood,  its  cer- 
tainty in  God's  own  time  and  way,  leads  us 
to  pray,  and  labor,  and  teach,  in  the  hope  of 
this  one  result.  The  purpose  and  expectation 
give  new  energy  and  life  to  all  our  efforts. 
The  plan  of  instruction  thus  designed,  mingles 
a  precious  influence  with  all  our  words  and 
thoughts.  Solemn,  tender,  affectionate,  sin- 
cere— our  children  feel  and  see  that  we  are  so. 
Their  attention  is  arrested.  Their  thoughts 
are  awakened.  Their  minds  are  all  alive.  Ah, 
how  blessed  is  such  a  sight,  and  such  an  ope- 
ration !  How  full  of  joy  and  pleasure  the 
work  so  imbued  and  sanctified  becomes  !    And 


EESULTS.  47 

how  much  every  pastor  loses  who  is  not  in  it, 
and  alive  to  it,  and  earnest  for  it;  as  one  not 
only  of  the  great  but  of  the  greatest  interests 
of  his  ministry  and  office,  as  a  shepherd  of  the 
flock,  and  an  embassador  for  Christ. 


LATER  RESULTS. — TWO  DIFFERENT  CASES.— DYING  CHILDREN. 
— LOVE  OF  CHILDREN  FOR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. — EFFECTS  ON 
FAMILIES. — HOME  TEACHING. 


tjHE  advantages  which,  we  may  antici- 
pate from  our  Sunday-schools  are  by 


no  means  exhausted  in  the  one  idea  of 
conversion.  Assuredly  the  salvation 
of  our  children  is  our  great  cardinal 
purpose.  But  in  the  attainment  of  this,  we 
also  attain  many  other  important  and  blessed 
results  in  detail.  And  even  if  we  fail  in  this; 
we  have  still  many  very  precious  facts  of  actual 
gain.  When  we  speak  of  conversion  in  any 
case  as  connected  with  means  to  be  employed 
by  men,  we  must  not  forget  the  sovereignty  of 
grace  and  the  right  of  God  to  do  what  He  will 
with  His  own.  It  may  be  that  the  most  earn- 
est and  faithful  teacher  may  be  disappointed — 
may  experience  that  hope  long  deferred  which 


LATER  RESULTS.  49 

maketh  the  heart  sick.  We  must  not  allow 
ourselves  to  confine  the  attainment  of  this  re- 
sult to  the  limited  time  of  Sunday-school 
teaching.  The  incident  related  in  one  of  my 
former  letters  may  illustrate  a  blessing  coming 
long  after  the  day  of  teaching  has  passed,  and 
after  the  teacher's  heart  had  felt,  and  even  for- 
gotten, all  the  despondency  of  the  disappoint- 
ment. Many  cases  have  been  under  my  notice 
of  the  blessing  upon  faithful  teaching  long 
postponed,  and  yet  at  last,  even  in  maturity, 
crowning  the  work.  And  I  have  no  doubt  a 
very  large  proportion  of  all  the  conversions  we 
see  in  the  Church  might  be  traced,  if  we  knew 
all  the  facts,  to  the  Scriptural  knowledge  laid 
up  in  the  youthful  mind  by  faithful  teaching. 
The  incorruptible  seed  of  the  Word  may  lie 
beneath  the  ground  through  a  long  winter  of 
hopeless  indifference  and  crime,  and  yet  furnish 
the  inestimable  instrument  of  divine  power, 
when  the  moment  comes  Aat  God  shall  merci- 
fully speak  it  into  life  and  growth.  And  this 
laying  up  of  knowledge  for  the  future  quick- 
ening work  of  the  Spirit  is  a  most  important 


JU 

TWO  DIFFERENT   CASES. 


benefit  which  faithful  teaching  confers.  The 
certainty  of  this  may  lead  a  praying,  anxious 
teacher  to  have  long  patience,  doubting  not 
that  in  due  season  he  shall  reap  if  he  faint  not. 
Two  young  persons  once  sought  my  pastoral 
counsel  in  much  the  same  circumstances,  and 
about  the  same  time.  They  were  both  young 
men,  who  had  led  a  vain  and  wasteful  life — 
living  in  pleasure,  and  dead  while  they  lived. 
The  one  had  been  the  child  of  early  faithful 
Christian  teaching.  The  other  had  known 
nothing  in  his  childhood  but  the  miserable 
worldliness  of  a  Sabbath-breaking  family,  and 
an  utter  neglect  of  the  Word  of  God.  The 
Holy  Spirit  had  now  awakened  both  to  per- 
sonal anxiety  and  religious  concern.  They 
were  deeply  affected  and  manifestly  sincere. 
But  how  different  were  their  experience  and 
their  future  history.  The  one  instantly  and 
freely  embraced  a  truth  which  he  had  always 
known,  and  never  doubted.  It  was  all  he  de- 
sired— enough  for  him.  He  was  fixed  in  judg- 
ment, actual  in  conviction,  and  useful  in  re- 
sult.    The  salvation  of  the  Gospel  was  to  him 


TWO   DIFFERENT   CASES.  51 

a  fountain  of  real  and  immediate  blessedness, 
and  he  delighted  to  proclaim  it.  The  other 
had  no  knowledge — was  ignorant,  skeptical, 
full  of  mental  errors  and  absurd  objections,  and 
could  never  be  settled  or  satisfied  in  mind  or 
established  in  heart.  The  Word  of  God  was 
all  unknown  to  him,  and  he  had  never  been 
trained  to  receive  its  authority.  Not  one 
conversation  with  him  was  satisfactory,  and 
the  toil  of  leading  him  was  intense.  I  traced 
them  long,  and  as  I  have  marked  the  simple, 
cheerful,  earnest  life  of  the  one — and  the  way- 
ward, fitful,  unhappy  course  of  the  other,  I 
have  but  seen  in  every  step  of  their  career  the 
benefit  and  blessedness  of  that  early  teaching 
in  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Sunday-school, 
which  made  all  the  difference  in  their  parallel 
courses.  Yet  perhaps  in  this  most  favored 
case,  some  praying  teacher  had  often  wept  in 
disappointment  over  the  apparent  want  of  suc- 
cess of  his  labor  as  it  passed. 

But  apart  from  these  absolute  advantages 
of  spiritual  knowledge,  we  confer  benefits  in 
our  Sunday-schools  of  immense  value,  and  to 


52  GRATEFUL   CHILDREN. 

be  considered  secondary  only  in  comparison  of 
this  first  and  highest  of  all  blessings  to  man. 
We  gain  the  affections  of  children  on  the  side 
of  the  Gospel,  and  its  institutions  and  instruc- 
tion. Everything  connected  with  religion  as- 
sumes an  attractive  and  agreeable  aspect,  and 
approaches  them  under  a  new  and  most  sub- 
duing form.  The  love  and  kindness  of  a  faith- 
ful teacher  kindle  a  glow  of  personal  affection 
and  tenderness,  sometimes  hardly  second  to 
any  other.  To  be  the  object  of  constant  affec- 
tionate approach  and  address — to  hear  the  lan- 
guage of  tenderness  and  friendly  salutation 
only  and  always,  awakens  a  living  and  often 
an  entirely  new  spirit  in  a  youthful  mind. 
How  often  have  I  seen  the  most  obdurate-look- 
ing boy  quietly  yielding,  like  melting  snow,  to 
such  an  influence,  till  he  awoke  to  the  real 
feeling  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  that  he 
was  truly  loved  by  somebody,  and  truly  loved 
somebody  in  return.  How  often  have  I  known 
a  dying  child  exclaim,  "  Oh  send  for  my 
teacher  ;  I  want  to  see  my  teacher/' — and  this 
in  repeated  cases  of  even  infant  scholars,  sup- 


CHILDREN'S  LOVE  FOR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.      53 

posed  too  young  to  have  derived  deep  and  last- 
ing impressions  from  this  relation.  Many 
illustrations  in  facts  occurring,  rise  up  to  my 
mind  in  demonstration  of  this  influence  and 
result,  so  valuable,  that  I  should  be  ready  to 
say  they  alone  were  worth  all  the  effort  and 
toil  which  the  school  had  cost.  So  blessed  is 
this  influence  of  love  on  the  human  heart,  that 
its  worth  as  a  refining  power  can  not  be  overes- 
timated. A  Sunday-school  teacher  has  an  in- 
strument of  vast  usefulness  in  this  personal 
relation,  the  effect  of  which,  properly  directed 
and  improved,  it  would  be  vain  to  calculate. 

The  affections  of  children  are  equally  gath- 
ered around  the  Sabbath,  the  Church,  the 
Word  of  Grod,  and  the  pastor  also,  if  he  sin- 
cerely throw  himself  into  the  work,  and  minis- 
ter to  its  prosperity.  The  Sabbath,  no  longer 
a  weariness,  becomes  to  the  mind  of  youth  the 
most  attractive  of  all  days.  It  is  a  day  of  en- 
joyment and  pleasure.  "Oh  how  I  love  to 
have  the  Sabbath  come,"  said  a  plain  little 
child  to  me,  "it  is  so  pleasant — and  I  love  my 

school  so  much."     "  The  happiest  hours  of  my 
5* 


54      CHILDREN'S  LOVE  FOR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

whole  week  to  rne,  are  those  I  spend  in  the 
Sunday-school/'  said  another  of  an  elder  class. 
What  scores  of  little  ones  have  I  known  com- 
ing in  the  cold  winter  mornings,  with  no  break- 
fast, because  their  families  were  not  up,  and 
they  could  not  be  satisfied  to  wTait  and  lose 
their  school.  "  How  came  you  here  so  soon  ?" 
said  I  to  two  little  girls  of  a  rich  and  self-in- 
dulgent household,  who  on  a  winter's  morning 
had  come  a  great  distance,  and  were  the  first 
in  the  room.  "  Oh  we  love  to  come,  and  we 
got  up  very  early,  and  came  without  our  break- 
fast, that  we  might  not  be  late."  "  Freddy," 
said  I  to  a  little  boy,  "have  you  had  your 
breakfast  to-day  ?"  "  No,  sir,  but  I  do  not 
mind  that ;  I  had  much  rather  be  at  school." 
Now,  I  say  it  is  all  but  an  infinite  blessing, 
thus  to  attract  the  youthful  affections  around 
the  Sabbath  and  the  study  of  the  Word  of 
God.  Public  worship  and  the  privileges  con- 
nected with  the  sanctuary  are  thus  imbedded 
in  the  youthful  habits  and  tastes.  A  direction 
and  current  are  given  to  the  thoughts  and  as- 
sociations, which  go  far  to  take  all  stumbling- 


EFFECTS   ON   FAMILIES.  55 

blocks  out  of  the  Lord's  way,  and  to  make 
ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord.  The 
ministry  become  objects  of  deep  and  abiding 
affection,  if  the  pastor  enters  into  the  work. 
The  hearts  of  children  are  entwined  around 
him;  as  a  well  known  minister  to  their  joys. 
His  voice  is  familiar.  His  words  are  effective. 
His  memory  is  precious  to  them.  Upon  this 
particular  point,  however,  I  shall  not  enlarge 
more  at  present.  But  what  a  hold,  what  a 
vantage-ground,  have  we  gained,  if  we  can 
thus  make  all  the  arrangements  and  institu- 
tions of  religion  objects  of  pleasant  and  at- 
tractive associations  in  youthful  minds  !  We 
give  a  happy  youth,  and  we  prepare  for  a 
happy  maturity.  We  minister  in  a  most 
effectual  manner  for  the  future  work  of  the 
Spirit,  by  clothing  all  the  appointed  instru- 
ments of  that  work  with  only  pleasurable 
associations. 

Now,  teachers  can  trace  this  influence  and 
its  effects  in  every  Sunday-school  in  our  land, 
in  which  the  Word. of  God  is  simply  and  faith- 
fully taught.    And  it  is  an  influence  only  to 


56  HOME   TEACHING. 

be  gained  in  Sunday-schools.  Domestic  relig- 
ious teaching  can  never  confer  these  agreeable 
associations  to  the  church,  the  pastor,  or  the 
Sabbath.  On  the  contrary,  tne  most  earnest 
of  Christian  parents  have  always  found  the 
Sabbath  family  work  a  hard  work — and  the 
Sabbath  family  teaching  a  wearying  teaching. 
Well  do  we,  who  passed  our  youth  with  only 
the  teachings  of  a  Christian  home,  realize  this. 
And  while  memory  blesses  and  consecrates 
those  venerable  and  beloved  forms  of  parents 
long  departed,  wTho  were  serious,  earnest,  con- 
scientious, prayerful — yet  the  remembrance  of 
our  Sabbaths,  with  nothing  to  call  out  youth- 
ful affection,  or  awaken  youthful  earnestness, 
or  enlist  youthful  waywardness,  or  to  turn  our 
desires  to  pastors  whom  we  never  knew,  or  to 
worship  which  we  could  not  understand,  is, 
after  all,  far  from  a  green  spot  in  the  recollec- 
tions of  youth.  There  are  needed,  for  the  best 
instructed,  all  the  additional  facts  of  provision 
which  our  Sunday-schools  have  given  us — not 
to  supplant,  but  to  supplement  domestic  teach- 
ing, and  the  care  and  nurture  of  a  Christian 


HOME   TEACHING.  57 

home.  And  the  wisest  Christian  parents  now 
fully  understand  this.  The  attempt  to  create 
a  rivalry  or  antagonism  between  parental  do- 
mestic teaching  and  the  teaching  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, is  evidence  to  us  only  of  ignorance 
of  the  subject.  The  one  may  give  the  advan- 
tages of  solitary  religious  teaching.  The  other 
alone  engrafts  upon  this,  and  adds  to  this  the 
social  benefits  and  opportunities  of  pleasant 
religious  relations  and  religious  influences  in 
association.  Accordingly,  the  perfect  scheme 
and  the  perfect  operation  are  only  to  be  found 
in  the  combination  of  the  two.  I  have  had 
the  contrast  in  families  equally  under  my  pas- 
toral care.  And  I  have  sadly  felt  the  impos- 
sibility of  gaining  the  affection  of  children 
whom  I  had  with  me  in  no  other  relation  than 
the  family.  Many  families  have  I  seen  who 
were  fixed  in  the  sentiment,  that  the  Sunday- 
school  was  not  needful  for  their  children,  and 
that  even  greater  benefits  would  be  lost  by 
sending  them  thither.  The  simple  result  has 
been,  that  these  children,  though  in  some  cases 


58  HOME   TEACHING. 

belonging  to  Christian  parents,  and,  I  believe, 
conscientiously  instructed  at  home,  have  grown 
up  free  from  any  influence  of  mine,  or  of  the 
ministry,  or  of  desire  therefor,  and,  as  a  rule, 
voluntary  strangers  in  maturity,  to  the  bless- 
ings of  a  day  and  a  Church  which  they  had 
never  been  accustomed  to  love  in  their  youth. 
I  have  mourned  over  this  error,  in  occasional 
determinations,  with  exceeding  sorrow — long- 
ing to  see  every  child  and  youth  in  the  Church 
in  actual,  constant  connection  with  blessings 
which  I  have  been  perfectly  convinced  could 
elsewhere  never  be  supplied.  I  would  en- 
treat Christian  parents  to  feel  and  to  con- 
sider rightly  upon  this  subject ;  and,  while  in 
their  prayers  and  efforts  at  home  and  in  secret, 
they  seek  for  the  highest  spiritual  welfare  of 
their  children,  to  perceive  and  acknowledge 
how  blessed  and  valuable  is  that  helpful  agency 
which  the  good  providence  of  God  has  prepared 
for  their  aid  and  success  in  the  Sunday-school. 
Here  are  advantages  in  which  they  are  vitally 
interested.    Let  them  adopt  them,  and  seek 


HOME  TEACHING.  59 

a  divine  blessing  upon  them,  for  their  own 
households,  rejoicing  in  their  connection  with 
churches  and  ministers,  where  such  faithful 
teaching  is  arranged,  and  privileges  so  precious 
for  youth  are  prepared. 


VI. 


REPINING.—  ELEVATING  INFLUENCE. — A  PROFESSOR  IN  COL- 
LEGE.— A  FEMALE  PRINCIPAL. — THE  POOR  CHILDREN. — 
MISSIONARY  KNOWLEDGE. — CONTRIBUTIONS. 

)HE  incidental  advantages  of  Sunday- 
schools,  which  occupied  my  last  letter, 
are  a  very  interesting  subject  to  me.  I 
can  not  substitute  them  in  my  mind 
as  a  satisfactory  result  in  the  place  of 
real  conversion,  an  actual  living  for  Christ  by 
the  teaching  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
But  I  can  not  bring  myself  to  undervalue  them, 
even  as  an  object,  much  less  as  an  instrument 
of  great  value  toward  the  attainment  of  our 
ultimate  and  desired  end.  It  is  everything 
with  me  to  attract  the  affections,  and  engage 
the  thoughts  and  efforts  of  our  children  with 
religious  interests  and  teaching.  A  teacher 
who  can  do  this  may  be  a  vast  instrument  of 
abiding  benefit.    A  teacher  who  can  not,  will 


ELEVATING  INFLUENCE.  61 

accomplish  but  little,  however  earnest  and  se- 
rious he  may  he.  Accordingly,  I  set  a  high 
value  upon  these  contingent  benefits,  and  de- 
light to  enumerate  them  as  I  see  them  con- 
stantly arising  in  connection  with  our  schools. 
In  addition  to  those  of  which  I  have  al- 
ready spoken,  the  refinement  of  manners, 
tastes,  and  character  which  arises  from  our 
Sunday-school  system  and  instruction,  is  a 
most  precious  benefit.  I  remember  that  Dr. 
D  wight  does  not  hesitate  to  enumerate  among 
the  benefits  flowing  from  the  Sabbath,  the  re- 
finement of  habit  and  character  which  comes 
from  the  habitual  weekly  cleanliness  and  dress 
of  the  people  upon  that  day.  This  thought 
has  been  always  impressed  upon  me  in  connec- 
tion with  our  Sunday-schools,  as  particularly 
valuable.  If  education  in  our  public  and  com- 
mon schools  constantly  awakens  dormant  char- 
acter and  powers — as  we  well  know — the  addi- 
tional influence  of  the  great  subject  of  teach- 
ing, of  the  freeness  and  kindness  of  the  man- 
ner of  teaching,  of  the  instinctive  regard  to  the 
holiness  of  the  day — of  the  religious  worship  in 
G 


62  A   PROFESSOR  IK   COLLEGE. 

praise  and  prayer  connected  with  it — and  of  all 
the  circumstances  of  order  and  cleanliness  in 
dress  and  habit  which  are  especially  required 
and  seen  on  the  Sabbath,  give  to  our  Sunday- 
schools  an  immense  preponderance  over  all 
others  in  this  relation.  I  have  seen  so  much 
of  this  effect,  and  such  power  exercised  by 
these  schools  in  thus  elevating  and  refining  the 
poor,  that  I  could  fill  many  letters  with  in- 
stances illustrating  the  fact.  Our  missionary 
and  pastoral  biographies  are  full  of  these  tro- 
phies of  Divine  grace,  exhibiting  this  taking 
of  children  from  the  very  poorest  of  the  people, 
to  make  them  princes  in  the  Church  of  God  in 
all  lands — noble  and  commanding  intellects 
that  but  for  the  first  opening  to  daylight  which 
the  Sunday-school  furnished,  might  have  re- 
mained for  ever  hidden  and  unknown. 

In  one  of  our  large  public  institutions  is  an 
accomplished  professor  of  languages  who  came 
a  poor  boy  to  my  school.  His  parents  had  no 
means  of  advancing  him.  He  had  displayed 
no  particular  taste  for  attainment.  His  asso- 
ciations had  been  far  down  below  the  prospect 


A   FEMALE   PRINCIPAL.  63 

of  any  possible  elevation.  The  Sunday-school 
brought  out  his  hidden  fire,  and  stirred  up  the 
gift  that  was  in  him  ;  excited  the  desire  for  an 
education  ;  led  him  to  give  himself  and  his  ed- 
ucation to  God.  He  struggled  through  his 
youth  with  the  noble  purpose  before  him.  He 
found  friends  in  his  Sunday-school  connec- 
tion to  sustain  him.  He  graduated  with  the 
highest  collegiate  honors.  He  was  able  to  ed- 
ucate and  exalt  his  whole  family.  Few  who 
now  know  and  admire  him;  have  the  least  idea 
where  was  found  the  spark  of  that  brilliant  ex- 
hibition. Yet  it  was  the  Sunday-school  which 
took  him  out  of  the  dust,  and  inspired  him 
with  all  his  early  thoughts  and  plans.  And 
he  has  been  a  faithful  teacher  in  this  work 
through  all  his  manhood  since. 

A  little  girl  of  ten  years  old,  perhaps,  found 
her  way  as  one  of  our  scholars.  She  lived  as 
"  a  little  maid/'  like  the  one  that  waited  on 
Naaman's  wife;  in  a  rich  but  careless  family, 
who  went  to  no  church  and  kept  no  Sabbath. 
In  the  few  succeeding  weeks  after  she  came 
among  us,  she  brought  with  her  one  and  an- 


64  A   FEMALE   PRINCIPAL. 

other  of  the  children  of  the  household,  till  she 
succeeded  in  attracting  every  child  in  the  fam- 
ily to  the  school.  The  father  and  mother  fol- 
lowed, and  took  a  pew  in  the  church.  The 
final  result  was  the  adding  to  our  communion 
both  parents  and  children,  as  one  of  the  hap- 
piest and  most  faithful  families  I  have  known. 
The  little  girl  was  so  excited  and  taught  in  the 
Sunday-school  that  she  longed  for  a  thorough 
education.  She  was  permitted  by  the  family 
to  attend  the  public  school.  She  rose  to  be  an 
assistant  and  a  principal  teacher.  A  distant 
town,  about  organizing  a  new  public  female 
school  of  a  higher  order,  sent  to  the  trustees  of 
these  public  schools  for  a  teacher  thoroughly 
qualified  to  take  this  important  post.  They 
unanimously  recommended  our  "little  maid," 
and  she  was  appointed.  She  has  since  been  at 
the  head  of  another  more  important  institution, 
and  has  now  educated  hundreds  of  young  la- 
dies, who  were  never  called  to  toil,  nor  knew 
the  pressure  of  want.  I  could  give  many  par- 
ticulars of  her  remarkable  course.  But  it  was 
the  Sunday-school  that  elevated  and  refined 


THE   POOR   CHILDREN.  65 

her,  in  character,  desires,  and  plans.  Appar- 
ently, but  for  the  opening  which  was  presented 
there,  she  might  have  spent  her  weary  life  in 
the  mere  service  of  the  kitchen. 

Who  can  undervalue  such  influences  and  re- 
sults as  these  ?  Such  instances,  both  male 
and  female,  might  be  multiplied  from  my  own 
observation  to  an  indefinite  extent.  Probably 
every  Sunday-school  and  pastor  could  adduce 
parallel  illustrations.  They  are  the  legitimate 
results  of  our  work.  They  flow  in  the  natural 
process  of  our  plan  and  growth.  I  have  some 
living  instances  now  around  me  equally  re- 
markable. I  almost  doubt  whether  any  of  our 
scholars  entirely  lose,  or  fail  to  gain,  this  re- 
fining influence  of  our  schools  in  some  degree. 
The  mingling  of  the  rich  and  poor  produces  a 
blessed  equalizing  influence  upon  both.  A  vis- 
itor to  my  school  once  said  to  me,  "  You  seem 
to  have  no  poor  children  here."  I  answered, 
"  Nearly  half  of  the  children  present  are  entirely 
poor."  He  looked  at  a  class  of  girls  who  were 
near  us,  and  expressed  his  doubts.  I  said,  "  See 
those  two  seated  first  on  the  bench.  One  of 
6* 


66  MISSIONARY   KNOWLEDGE. 

them  is  the  daughter  of  a  man  of  large  wealth, 
the  other  the  child  of  a  poor  widow  who  sup- 
ports her  family  with  her  needle."  "  I  see  no 
difference  between  them/'  was  his  reply.  Such 
was  the  aspect.  And  such  is  the  elevating  and 
refining  power  of  our  schools  when  made  at- 
tractive and  effective. 

Another  very  important  result  of  our  work 
is  the  giving  of  religious  information  and  be- 
nevolent purposes  and  habits.  The  missionary 
world  is  habitually  spread  out  before  them. 
The  influence  and  history  of  Christian  missions 
is  now  almost  an  inseparable  part  of  the  Sun- 
day-school work.  They  are  trained  to  consider 
this  great  subject,  and  to  feel  a  lively  interest 
in  it.  Thus  not  only  are  the  missionary  ranks 
supplied  from  the  Sunday-schools,  but  all  our 
benevolent  operations  find  their  laborers  there, 
and  the  funds  for  all  these  works  are  thus  hab- 
itually and  freely  raised.  This  whole  depart- 
ment of  interest  and  information  has  arisen  in 
the  time  of  us  who  are  old.  But  what  a  work 
it  is.  Our  children  have  grown  up  in  the  midst 
of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  the  Gospel,  and  are 


CONTRIBUTIONS.  67 

to  a  great  degree  familiar  with  them.  They 
love  to  hear  of  them.  They  love  to  contribute 
to  them.  They  are  coming  into  the  action  of 
life,  a  well-informed  army  of  soldiers  for  the 
Lord — "bayonets  that  think/'  as  Kossuth 
called  his  revolutionary  soldiers.  Their  views, 
expectations,  and  plans,  are  all  arranged  on  a 
new  and  higher  scale  than  has  governed  with 
those  who  have  gone  before  them.  The  future 
victories  of  the  Gospel  will  all  be  the  victories 
of  the  Sunday-school.  There  were  the  men 
and  women  drilled  and  taught  who  "  shall  in- 
herit the  earth."  The  habit  of  missionary  col- 
lections on  every  Sunday  is  a  very  important 
element  of  this  department  of  influence. 
These  even  in  themselves  will  amount  to 
much.  In  the  past  ten  years  the  missionary 
contributions  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  St. 
George's  have  amounted  to  over  Twenty 
Thousand  dollars,  collected  in  the  schools,  and 
by  and  from  the  children  and  teachers.  These 
have  erected  a  large  stone  church  in  Monrovia 
in  Africa,  which  they  are  now  finishing,  and  a 
very  fine  and  commodious  mission  chapel  in 


68  CONTRIBUTIONS. 

their  own  district  of  this  city,  which  is  finished 
and  occupied,  and  has  been  highly  successful. 
The  children  thus  see  the  result  of  their  labors. 
They  are  animated  with  new  zeal  and  interest 
in  the  work.  They  gain  new  power  and  new 
tastes  and  habits  as  they  go  on  in  this  work  of 
benevolence  from  year  to  year.  And  the 
amount  of  money  they  collect  is  the  smallest 
item  of  advantage  in  this  one  part  of  the  ope- 
ration. With  wThat  hope  may  we  look  forward 
to  the  influence  and  labors  in  the  Church,  of 
children  so  brought  up  and  so  habituated,  to 
attempt  large  things,  and  to  expect  large  things, 
for  their  Saviour  and  their  fellow-men.  I  would 
encourage,  therefore,  all  who  are  ready  to  work 
in  this  great  cause,  with  the  hope  and  anima- 
tion which  these  facts  and  considerations  may 
impart.  I  speak  of  all  these  things  as  advan- 
tages which  we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  our 
Sunday-schools,  and,  therefore,  as  ends  and  ob- 
jects which  in  their  several  measure  and  rela- 
tion we  may  and  ought  to  pursue.  Perhaps  on 
this  one  point  I  have  said  enough.  It  has  only 
suggested,  however,  much  more  which  I  am 
compelled  to  omit. 


VII. 

FUTURE    BENEFITS. — PRESENT    ACTUAL    GAINS. — OBLIGATIONS 
OF  PASTORS. 

HOPE  you  will  not  think  that  I  have  ar- 
rayed an  extravagant  view  of  the  advan- 
tages of  our  Sunday-schools  to  the  chil- 
dren engaged  in  them.  I  am  perfectly 
sure  that  I  have  but  stated  that  which 
every  well-conducted  school  and  every 
faithful  teacher  in  our  land  can  more  or  less 
certify  by  their  own  observation  and  history. 
As  a  result  of  my  experience  and  observation 
the  exhibition  is  far  within  the  line  of  truthful 
application,  in  the  variety  of  incidents  and  in- 
stances with  which  I  might  substantiate  it. 
But  it  is  varied  and  adequate,  sufficiently  for 
all  my  present  purpose.  And  in  contemplat- 
ing this  area  of  thought,  I  am  ready  to  ask, 
Can  there  be  a  cause,  or  an  instrument  of 
blessing,  in  the  Church  of  God,  of  more  real 


70  FUTURE   GAINS. 

and  vital  importance  to  its  prosperity  ?  Has 
the  divine  Providence  given  us  a  power  or  an 
opportunity  more  adapted  by  His  blessing  to 
glorify  the  Saviour's  name,  and  to  gather  souls 
in  a  spiritual  fellowship  and  devotion  to  Him  ? 
The  living  power  of  the  Church  is  to  be  per- 
petuated in  its  living  posterity.  The  genera- 
tions to  come  are  to  serve  and  bless  the  Lord 
— in  the  extending  of  their  power,  and  in  the 
enlarging  of  their  capacity  for  the  work  of 
Christ  upon  the  earth.  We  do  not  doubt  that 
periods  are  rapidly  approaching  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  are  to  be  dis- 
tinguished by  a  zeal  for  truth,  a  love  for  Jqsus, 
and  a  laborious  devotion  to  the  best  interests 
of  men,  far  beyond  anything  that  we  have  seen 
— perhaps  that  any  Christians  have  yet  ever 
seen — of  the  glory,  fullness,  and  power  of  the 
Gospel.  In  anticipation  of  these  days  of  vic- 
tory, what  is  so  important  as  the  conversion 
and  Christian  training  of  the  young — the  im- 
buing them  with  a  deep  experience  of  the 
power,  and  with  large  views  of  the  promises 
and  prospects  of  the  Gospel  ?     Not  merely 


FUTURE   GAINS.  71 

bringing  them  personally,  actually  to  Christ, 
but  also  preparing  them  in  the  best  and  most 
effectual  way  to  work  for  Christ,  in  the  gath- 
ering in  of  His  great  harvest  of  glory  in  the 
salvation  of  men.    Certainly  the  Church  which 
can  be  most  effectually  successful  in  this  real 
Christian  training  of  the  children  belonging  to 
them,  is  the  one  most  truly  preparing  to  meet 
their  God,  and  to  work  for  Him  as  a  willing 
people  in  the  day  of  His  power.     And  how  is 
this  thorough  Christian  training  to  be  accom- 
plished upon  any  other  plan  than  our  Sunday- 
school  arrangement  ?     I  think  I  have  suffi- 
ciently illustrated  this  point  to  assume  it,  and 
leave  it  as  indubitable.     There  is  no  rival  op- 
eration.     There  is  no  comparable  instrument. 
There  is  no  agency  to  take  the  place  of  this 
great  work  even  in  the  most  partial  degree. 
And  if  one  could  imagine  the  whole  effort  to 
be  relinquished,  and  every  Sunday-school  to  be 
finally  closed  and  scattered  on  a  given  day,  with 
all  the  aids  and  publications  connected  with 
them  to  be  thrown  away,  we  can  not  conceive 
a  greater  disaster  to  the  Church,  a  greater  tri- 


72  PRESENT   ACTUAL   GAINS. 

umph  of  Satan,  or  a  greater  overthrow  of  the 
hope  of  a  world  redeemed. 

The  benefits  of  this  work  we  are  already 
reaping  in  the  whole  display  of  a  Saviour's  tri- 
umphs in  the  world.     The  present  generation 
of  youthful  pastors  and  missionaries,  and  of 
male  and  female  teachers  and  laborers,  are 
chiefly  the  children  of  Sunday-school  instruc- 
tion.    And,  as  the   whole  practical  efficiency 
of  the  Church  is  yearly  enlarging,  and  mission- 
aries at  home  and  abroad   are  hastening  to 
publish  upon  the  mountains  the  glad  tidings 
of  a  reigning   Saviour,  we   discover    in   this 
whole  work  but   the  precious  fruit,  shaking 
like  Lebanon,  of  that  which  was  thus  scattered 
as  a  handful  of  corn,  in  the  early  efforts  of  the 
first  faithful  laborers  in  this  cause.     And  when 
you  contemplate  the  usefulness   of  many  of 
these  youthful  servants  of  the  Lord,  some  of 
whom  have  finished  their  day,  and  others  of 
whom  are  still  in  the  field,  all  of  whom  have 
been  shining  examples  of  the  power  and  skill 
which  this  blessed  training  gave — and  then 
call  to  mind  the  three  millions  of  children  in 


PRESENT   ACTUAL   GAINS.  73 

our  Churches  in  this  country,  now  under  all 
the  blessed  influence  of  the  same  preparation 
for  Christ  and  His  service,  you  can  not  resist 
the  thought,  that  nothing  can  be  more  import- 
ant for  the  Church  of  God  than  the  wise  and 
faithful  maintenance  of  this  whole  scheme, 
upon  the  largest  possible  field,  and  with  the 
utmost  possible  excellence  of  management. 
Are  there  in  this  country  five  hundred  thou- 
sand other  Christians,  of  equal  usefulness  and 
worth  with  the  five  hundred  thousand  Sunday- 
school  teachers  whom  God  is  employing  and 
blessing  on  every  Sabbath  ?  Their  whole  em- 
ployment in  this  relation,  and  in  the  degree 
in  which  it  is  faithfully  carried  out — is  the 
highest  gift  of  benevolence  to  our  land  and  to 
our  race.  It  is  a  benevolence  which  continu- 
ally enlarges  itself  in  the  heart  that  owns  and 
exercises  it,  which  accomplishes  the  most 
valued  results  for  the  souls  upon  whom  it 
directly  acts,  and  which  reproduces  itself  in 
countless  other  agents  and  agencies,  running 
on  through  all  ages,  and  intertwining  with  all 
works  of  love,  in  the  whole  extent  and  history 


74  OBLIGATIONS  OF  PASTORS. 

of  the  future  Church.  And  I  would  hail  and 
welcome,  my  beloved  brethren  and  sisters,  the 
Sunday-school  teachers  of  our  country  with 
the  salutation  of  cordial  affection  and  sincere 
respect.  Beloved,  you  are  the  Lord's  instru- 
ments of  untold  benefits  to  your  fellow-men. 
Ages  shall  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed.  Be 
faithful  unto  death,: — work  on  cheerfully  and 
earnestly,  and  with  a  single  mind ;  and  the 
God  of  glory  will  endow  you  with  eternal 
blessing.  Be  not  wearied  with  apparent  want  of 
success,  nor  faint  under  the  depression  of  hope 
deferred.  You  serve  a  faithful  Master.  You 
labor  in  a  cause  that  is  purely  good  and  must 
surely  triumph.  You  shall  reap  your  harvest 
of  grace  and  glory  in  due  season,  if  you  faint 
not. 

But  with  the  survey  of  this  whole  field  of 
undeniable  advantages  accruing  from  our 
schools,  what  ought,  what  can  our  Churches 
do,  but  encourage,  adopt,  and  sustain  the 
work  with  the  utmost  devotion,  generosity, 
and  zeal  ?  Christian  pastors  can  not  neglect 
this  subject,  and  be  useful,  safe,  or  guiltless. 


OBLIGATIONS   OF   PASTORS.  75 

G-od  has  committed  to  His  ministers  the  feed- 
ing of  the  lambs,  as  of  the  sheep.  The  Son 
of  God  made  special  manifestations  of  His 
love,  His  peculiar  love,  for  the  little  ones  of 
His  flock.  And  that  can  not  be  a  ministry 
faithful  to  God,  or  a  ministry  after  the  pat- 
tern of  Jesus,  which  neglects  them.  A  Christ- 
loving  pastor  is  a  child-loving  pastor.  He  who 
as  a  babe  has  been  taught  of  Jesus,  delights  to 
be  a  teacher  of  babes  for  Jesus'  sake.  A  lov- 
ing minister's  heart  can  not  withhold  himself 
from  this  most  attractive  and  precious  portion 
of  all  his  labors.  And  I  am  persuaded  that 
the  more  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  look  at 
this  subject  in  all  its  bearings  and  influences, 
the  more  earnestly  will  they  bf  drawn  to  a  per- 
sonal engagement  therein.  Christian  Churches 
can  not  be  safely  indifferent  or  inattentive  to 
these  important  claims.  The  children  of  every 
family,  whether  rich  or  poor,  need  the  training 
of  the  Sunday-school,  and  can  gain  the  bless- 
ings which  it  offers  nowhere  else.  It  should 
be  a  fixed  purpose  and  effort  in  every  Church 
that  the  whole  generation  of  its  youth  should 


76  OBLIGATIONS   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

be  thus  taught  and  trained.  There  the  rich 
and  poor  should  meet  together  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  that  elevating  and  refining  influence 
which  proceeds  alone  from  Him  who  is  "  the 
Maker  of  them  all."  The  best  intellects  and 
hearts  of  the  Church  of  God  should  be  given 
to  this  work.  The  teaching  should  not  be 
confined  to  the  young.  Elder  Christians,  of 
long  experience  and  mature  grace,  of  com- 
manding position  and  personal  influence, 
should  enlist  themselves  in  the  actual  work — 
and  renew  their  energies  and  their  youth  in 
the  attractive*  labor  to  which  it  invites.  The 
provision  for  the  schools  should  bring  out  the 
unsparing  liberality  of  the  Church.  Nothing 
that  can  promote  the  comfort,  enlarge  the 
usefulness,  or  adorn  and  render  attractive  the 
method  of  operation,  within  the  power  of  the 
members  of  any  Church,  should  be  withheld. 
The  Sunday-school  is  worthy  of  the  first  place 
in  the  affections  and  consideration  of  every 
Church.  The  advantages  which  it  repays 
make  it  an  investment  of  incalculable  worth. 
In  no  way  can  the  Churches  of  the  Lord  so 


OBLIGATIONS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  77 

surely  rise  and  shine,  so  certainly  extend  and 
prosper,  so  largely  bless  and  be  blessed,  as  in 
the  constant,  earnest,  and  faithful  cultivation 
of  their  Sunday-schools.  They  are  the  Church 
of  the  children — the  fold  for  •  the  lambs — the 
feeding-place  for  the  kids  beside  the  shepherds' 
tents.  As  true  religion  revives,  the  Lord  makes 
their  peculiar  claims  to  be  understood  and  val- 
ued. And  as  their  claims  are  thus  regarded 
and  met,  will  true  religion  revive  in  the  most 
effective  and  abiding  form,  and  children  and 
teachers,  and  pastors  and  Christians,  awake  to 
perceive  and  acknowledge,  with  new  gratitude, 
the  advantages  and  blessings  which,  under 
God's  gracious  blessing,  flow  from  the  Sun- 
day-schools upon  every  one  engaged  therein. 
7* 


vni. 

Y. —  TEACHERS. —  VALUE. —  USEFULNESS. —  QUALIFICA- 
TIONS.— TRUE  PIETY. 

PASS  from  a  consideration  of  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  from  Sunday-schools, 
5  to  a  contemplation  of  the  agency  to  be 
employed.  The  value  of  the  proposed 
result  makes  the  importance  of  the 
agency  designed  to  produce  it  still  the  greater. 
The  discriminate  character  of  the  results  which 
we  desire  must  also  influence  our  selection  of 
an  agency  entirely  appropriate  to  their  attain- 
ment. In  the  subject  before  us,  the  first  ele- 
ment of  the  agency  is  the  personal  character  of 
the  Teacher.  A  more  important  influence,  or 
one  more  actually  effective  upon  the  character 
of  the  Church,  can  not  be  found,  apart  from 
the  personal  work  of  the  divinely  appointed 
ministry  of  the  Gospel,  than  the  organized  and 
active  body  of  Sunday-school  teachers.     They 


TEACHERS.  79 

have  advantages  of  influence  which,  are  pecu- 
liarly their  own.  The  small  number  of  their 
hearers — their  acknowledged  personal  relation 
as  teachers — the  direct  individual  and  mutual 
contact  and  connection  of  this  relation — the 
quiet  and  secured  attention — the  secluded  place 
and  hour  for  their  work — the  open  and  eager 
minds  of  the  young  disciples  whom  they  in- 
struct— the  facility  of  comprehension  and  the 
freedom  of  impression — the  solemnizing,  sub- 
duing, and  exciting  influence  of  the  accom- 
panying prayer  and  praise  of  the  school  uni- 
ted— all  combine  to  give  them  an  opportunity 
of  blessing  and  saving  a  generation  for  Christ, 
which  angels  might  covet;  and  over  the  blessed 
results  of  which  angels  will  rejoice.  As  I 
habitually  walk  around  among  the  classes, 
and  sometimes  have  an  opportunity  to  take 
the  place  of  an  absent  teacher,  and  thus  ob- 
serve and  test,  in  turn,  the  blessedness  of  open- 
ing the  absorbing  truths  of  salvation  to  such 
open  and  grateful  minds,  I  gain  a  constantly 
enlarging  conception  of  the  privileges  and 
"blessings  of  the  work.    No  employment  seems 


80  TEACHERS. 

to  me  so  attractive — and  no  occupation  so 
sure  to  bring  its  ample  reward.  That  blessed 
hour  of  free  and  unrestrained  conversation,  in 
the  simplest  terms  upon  the  highest  subjects, 
only  appears  too  short  for  the  privilege  and 
the  occupation  which  are  necessarily  confined 
to  it.  And  in  the  supposition  that  every  ele- 
ment involved  in  this  occupation  is  of  a  fair 
and  full  measure  of  adaptation  to  its  success- 
ful accomplishment,  I  can  conceive  of  no  in- 
fluence upon  human  society  at  all  to  be  com- 
pared in  efficacy  and  actual  power  with  the 
scheme  of  operation  which  is  thus  considered. 
I  can  not  speak  or  think  of  this  agency  as  ever 
rivaling,  or  really  separable  from,  the  appointed 
ministry.  The  teachers  of  my  schools  seem 
to  me  to  be  but  parts  of  myself.  Like  the  fin- 
gers of  one  of  those  beautiful  power-presses, 
they  take  up  the  very  pages  which  I  desire  to 
impress,  and  smoothly  and  quietly  spread  them 
out  before  me,  prepared  to  receive  the  blessed 
communications  from  on  high  which  I  long  to 
stamp  on  their  minds  and  hearts  for  ever. 
When  one  surveys  this  tranquil  but  powerful 


VALUE.  81 

operation,  it  is  vain  to  compare  the  parts  with 
each  other  in  their  relative  importance.  They 
must  all  be  there,  all  proportionate,  all  adapted, 
all  in  order  ;  and  then  the  unseen,  mysterious 
power  applied,  with  its  sure  but  imponderable 
energy,  the  result  comes  out,  the  happiness 
and  the  triumph  of  all.  And  who  that  stands 
to  contemplate  the  glowing  regularity  and 
mysterious  beauty  of  this  work,  would  desire 
to  go  back  to  the  single  hand-press  of  the  in- 
dividual laborer,  toiling,  with  far  greater  weari- 
ness, to  accomplish  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
result  ?  That  in  actual  practice  we  really  find 
a  fair  exhibition  of  these  appropriate  elements 
I  have  no  power  to  deny.  The  great  propor- 
tion of  teachers  are  doubtless  useful  and  faith- 
ful. And  the  very  existence  and  constant  en- 
largement of  the  operation  on  all  sides  and  in 
every  Church,  while  every  element  is  so  volun- 
tary and  unconstrained,  can  not  but  show  the 
adaptation  of  the  actual  agency,  and  the  in- 
terest of  youthful  minds  therein.  The  rule  of 
the  history  is  flourishing  success.  The  excep- 
tions are  the  failing  and  drooping  schools,  and 


82  USEFULNESS. 

inattentive  and  careless  attendants.  Yet  there 
is  no  school  in  which  there  are  not  found  very 
great  differences,  both  in  the  passing  manifes- 
tation, and  in  the  actual  results,  among  the 
various  classes  and  teachers.  Every  school 
will  furnish  some  specimens  of  what  may  be 
called  the  highest  exemplification  of  the  sys- 
tem ;  some  classes  always  present,  always 
punctual,  always  interested,  always  active  ; 
some  teachers  always  there,  always  prepared, 
always  attractive,  always  effectual ;  and  there- 
fore some  fruits  of  the  highest  and  most  blessed 
character  always  growing.  That  this  differ- 
ence will  be  found  in  some  degree  among  the 
children  I  should  not  deny.  But  this  can  be 
only  occasional  and  individual.  There  are 
teachers,  too,  who  are  found  especially  adapted 
to  some  particular  classes  of  children.  But 
the  differences  are  just  as  great  between  the  in- 
dividual children  of  the  same  general  class,  as 
between  the  social  classes  themselves.  And 
there  are  some  teachers  who  are  always  instru- 
ments of  blessing,  and  I  might  almost  say  a 
blessing  to  all.     How  dear  and  precious  such 


QUALIFICATIONS.  83 

servants  of  the  Lord  are  to  a  pastor's  heart, 
and  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church,  who  can 
fairly  tell  ?  But  why  should  not  all  be  such  ? 
There  may  be,  and  doubtless  there  is,  difference 
of  'gifts.  But  are  there  any  gifts  calculated 
for  usefulness  in  the  Sunday-school  that  every 
teacher  may  not  in  a  fair  measure  and  degree 
acquire  ?  Are  there  any  that  every  Christian 
may  not  have  and  exercise  in  some  appropriate 
relation  with  entire  success  ?  I  think  not. 
And  therefore  while  I  speak  upon  this  subject, 
I  must  deal  with  it,  not  as  involving  only  the 
characteristics  of  the  poet,  natural  and  not  to% 
be  attained,  but  as  the  qualifications  of  the 
faithful  practical  servant,  whose  best  services 
are  the  improvements  of  his  constant  oppor- 
tunities, and  whose  brightest  graces  are  the 
light  of  a  lamp  which,  though  grace  has  started 
with  its  divine  spark,  faithful  watching  and 
care  keep  in  its  abiding  and  useful  glow. 

Of  all  qualifications  in  a  successful  teacher, 
real  and  experimental  piety  is  by  far  the  most 
important.  A  teacher  in  a  Sunday-school  ac- 
tually and  professedly  unconverted,  seems  an 


V 
84  QUALIFICATIONS. 

anomaly  simply  absurd.  I  should  hardly 
waste  a  moment  in  discussing  such  a  point. 
"  In  this  the  children  of  God  are  manifest  and 
the  children  of  the  devil."  If  there  are  but 
these  two  classes  on  earth,  in  a  spiritual  divi- 
sion, as  I  certainly  can  not  doubt,  I  can  hardly 
imagine  the  propriety  of  employing  one  of 
either  class  to  be  a  teacher  in  the  ways  of  the 
other.  There  surely  may  be  true  piety  in  its 
germ  in  the  heart,  where  as  yet  no  open  pro- 
fession of  it  has  been  made  in  appointed  or- 
dinances of  separation.  And  a  wise  considera- 
tion by  the  appointing  power  will  take  this 
possible  fact  into  consideration  in  the  present 
contingency.  Perhaps  the  very  desire  to  teach 
others  the  ways  of  Christ  may  be  one  of  the 
first  and  most  encouraging  evidences  of  the 
reality  of  this  spiritual  life  within,  however 
feeble  and  doubtful  it  may  appear.  I  would 
not,  therefore,  quench  the  smoking  flax,  01 
break  the  bruised  reed  :  nor  on  any  account 
discourage  one  of  the  Lord's  little  ones  in  their 
desires  to  be  useful.  But  it  is  a  case  which  re- 
quires vast  caution,  and  faithful  and  tender 


TRUE  PIETY.  85 

judgment.  The  interest  to  be  confided  is 
great.  The  possible  evils  may  be  greater. 
And  all  the  circumstances  which  are  individ- 
ual and  personal  must  be  taken  into  account. 
But  the  governing  principle  must  be  laid  down, 
that  a  teacher  of  others  to  be  the  children  of 
God,  should  himself  be  His  child  ;  a  guardian 
and  guide  of  the  little  children  of  the  Saviour's 
household  ought  not  to  be  a  stranger  and  for- 
eigner, having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in 
the  world,  but  a  fellow-citizen  with  the  saints, 
and  of  the  household  of  God.  True  piety  is 
thk  growth  and  fruit  of  a  converted  heart — an 
experience  of  the  Saviour's  forgiving  love — a 
real  consecration  of  the  soul,  as  bought  with  a 
price,  to  pirn  who  has  redeemed  and  owns  it. 
It  is  a  state  in  which  old  things  have  passed 
away,  and  all  things  in  their  principles,  and  in 
their  measure  and  degree  of  results,  have  be- 
come new.  A  Sunday-school  teacher  must  be 
thus  taught  and  born  of  God,  so  that  the  di- 
vine subjects  of  teaching  shall  not  be  the  mere 
barren  acquisitions  of  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
but  the  real  subjects  of  the  experience  and  en- 
8 


86  TBUE  PIETY. 

joyment  of  the  heart.  I  am  exceedingly  earn- 
est to  press  this  point.  It  is  the  very  starting- 
point  in  this  new  line  of  view.  Every  thing 
else  will  depend  upon  it,  and  presuppose  it. 
We  can  not,  therefore,  pass  it  with  indifference 
or  inattention.  What  is  Sunday-school  teach- 
ing but  a  ministry  for  God  ?  In  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  employment,  it  is  a  work  for  Chris- 
tians, and  for  them  alone.  The  idea  is  some- 
times suggested,  that  getting  some  vain  and 
irreligious  persons  to  teach  others,  may  be  the 
means  of  leading  them  to  learn  themselves. 
This  would  seem  too  wicked  to  be  merely  ab- 
surd, if  applied  to  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel. 
But  though  more  manageable  and  more  easily 
remedied,  it  is  equally  incongruous  in  the  pres- 
ent case.  We  can  not  afford  to  present  our 
children  as  merely  demonstrative  subjects. 
Their  interests  and  welfare  are  the  things  for 
which  we  seek.  And  in  securing  an  agency 
for  the  blessing,  the  Lord  must  first  call  to  His 
service,  and  then  instruct  and  prepare  for  its 
adequate  fulfillment.  Our  teachers  must  be 
in  choice,  and  hearts,  and  life  the  children  and 
servants  of  the  living  God. 


IX. 

TEACHERS. — RELIGIOUS  KNOWLEDGE. — SCRIPTURAL  KNOWL- 
EDGE.— SPECIAL  PREPARATION. — LOVE  FOR  SOULS. — EF- 
FORTS FOR  SALVATION. 

HAVE  spoken  of  piety  as  an  essential 
qualification  in  a  Sunday-school  teacher. 
But  the  thought  should  be  carried  be- 
yond the  mere  possession  of  religious 
character.  For  such  a  work  there  needs 
the  deepest  experience  and  intelligence 
of  religious  truth.  It  is  really  a  ministry  for 
souls  in  eternal  things,  and  at  a  period  of  life 
when  the  impressions  received  are  very  per- 
manent and  effectual.  False  principles  then 
inculcated  may  exercise  a  baneful  influence 
through  life.  Indeed,  it  may  be  found  very 
difficult  to  eradicate  them  at  all.  Nothing 
can  be  more  important  than  to  give  to  a 
youthful  mind  a  perfectly  clear  and  intelligible 
perception  of  the  way  of  salvation  opened  in 


88  TEACHERS. 

the  Gospel.  And  though  every  true  Christian 
will  understand  this;  and  may  be  able  to  state 
it  with  a  degree  of  precision — at  any  rate  must 
be  personally  conscious  of  its  simplicity — yet  it 
is  by  no  means  the  fact  that  every  real  Chris- 
tian can  adequately  and  with  sufficient  simpli- 
city expound  it  to  others.  To  make  it  plain 
to  a  child's  mind,  even  when  that  mind  is  really 
spiritually  inquiring,  is  a  very  important  at- 
tainment. It  will  occupy  and  will  repay  the 
ripest  experience  in  grace,  and  the  most  intel- 
ligent exercise  of  wisdom.  '  I  have,  therefore, 
always  longed  to  see  those  Christians  at  work 
in  teaching,  who  were  not  merely  alive  to  God, 
but  lively  for  God.  We  need  the  mature  ser- 
vants to  be  the  guides  of  the  young.  And  no 
employment  is  so  adapted  to  invigorate  their 
own  graces,  and  to  simplify  and  clear  up  their 
own  views  of  Divine  truth,  as  this  opportunity 
and  necessity  of  expounding  the  way  of  the 
Lord  to  His  little  ones,  and  showing  them,  in 
their  own  tongue,  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 
How  much  the  practical  imparting  of  religious 
knowledge  enlarges  and  purifies  it  in  the  mind's 


RELIGIOUS   KNOWLEDGE.  89 

own  possession.  Christians  in  such  an  occupa- 
tion would  soon  discover. 

You  will  see  that  this  whole  train  of  remark 
is  founded  upon  my  previous  assertion  of  the 
purpose  of  Sunday-school  teaching — that  is,  the 
actual  conversion  of  children  to  God.  However 
important  theoretical  information  may  be  in  the 
geography  and  customs  of  Scripture  history,  it 
would  be  a  miserable  perversion  of  our  appointed 
work  to  confine  the  time  and  thoughts  to  this 
outside  view.  A  lesson  in  Scriptural  geography 
alone  would  be  as  barren  and  as  inappropriate 
in  the  Sunday-school  as  a  sermon  on  the  same 
subject  in  the  pulpit.  Both  the  one  and  the 
other  are  useless,  and  derogatory  to  the  posi- 
tion and  the  demand,  unless  all  the  statistical 
information  be  made  the  instrument  of  direct 
introduction  to  the  Saviour's  work  and  the 
sinner's  need.  And  although  we  must  delight 
to  welcome  and  employ  every  adjunct  which 
enlarged  information  can  bring  to  illustrate 
and  explain  the  truth,  we  must  be  exceedingly 
determined  and  careful  that  the  incident  shall 

not  assume  the  place  of  the  very  subject  itself, 
8* 


90  SCRIPTURAL  KNOWLEDGE. 

and  the  chaff  be  selected  for  the  food  instead 
of  the  wheat.  A  teacher  truly  alive  for  God 
will  soon  and  often  find  an  o'pportunity  to 
confer  with  individual  minds,  upon  the  great 
concerns  of  the  Gospel  and  the  sinful  soul. 
And  it  is  eminently  necessary  that  teachers 
should  realize  the  importance  of  a  deep  relig- 
ious experience,  and  an  habitual  exercise  of  all 
its  active  traits  for  the  special  advantage  of 
this  work,  and  for  readiness  for  such  occa- 
sions. 

Added  to  this  primary  qualification,  we  may 
speak,  as  second  in  importance,  of  enlarged 
Scriptural  knowledge.  Every  part  of  the  Sa- 
cred Word  should  be  familiar  to  a  teacher's 
mind.  And  to  the  utmost  extent  of  individ- 
ual means  and  time,  the  widest  preparation 
should  be  made  of  attainment  from  this  whole 
field.  Here  will  come  in  the  whole  area  of 
study  in  the  localities  and  national  customs 
which  are  connected  with  the  historical  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible.  When  we  began  our  work, 
this  field  for  study  was  vastly  extensive,  and 
widely  scattered.     But  the  laborers  and  prepa- 


SCRIPTURAL   KNOWLEDGE.  91 

rations  which  the  process  of  the  work  has 
called  out,  in  the  condensed  and  comprehen- 
sive books  prepared  upon  these  various  points, 
have  so  simplified  and  arranged  the  study,  that 
it  involves  but  little  difficulty  now  for  any. 
But  this  knowledge  is  only  to  be  acquired  by 
study — and  in  the  great  multitude  of  cases,  it 
can  only  be  acquired  by  the  actual  study  of 
the  particular  lesson.  I  have  had  great  reason 
to  believe  there  is  far  too  little  actual  study  on 
the  appointed  lesson  by  the  most  of  teachers. 
In  hurried  and  extemporaneous  work  in  teach- 
ing I  have  no  confidence.  It  is  as  worthless  in 
A  the  Sunday-school  as  in  the  pulpit.  In  each 
case  it  wearies  and  disgusts  the  speaker  and 
the  hearers  equally.  The  Sunday's  lesson 
should  be  the  week's  study.  The  reading  and 
the  thought  should  be  given  to  it.  Ample 
notes  should  be  made  of  the  information  at- 
tained. And  the  teacher  should  come  prepared 
to  the  utmost  possible  extent,  with  information 
on  the  whole  subject,  and  the  ability  to  answer 
any  reasonable  question,  or  to  expound  any 
natural  difficulty  which  may  occur.    "  Reading 


92  SPECIAL   PREPARATION. 

maketh  a  full  man."  And  it  is  delightful  to 
witness  the  work  of  such  an  one  in'  teaching. 
The  scholars  crowd  around  and  hang  upon  his 
words,  and  the  excitement  and  occupation  of 
the  mutual  interest  in  the  subject  of  study, 
make  the  hour  seem  too  short  for  both.  How 
sad  a  contrast  is  the  aspect  of  another  class 
and  teacher,  where  the  little  information  of 
the  teacher  has  been  soon  exhausted — and  be- 
fore the  hour  has  half  gone  by,  the  teacher  sits 
with  folded  hands  in  idleness,  and  the  children 
are  yawning  with  indifference,  or  else  the  Word 
of  God  is  laid  aside  and  some  story-book  is 
read  in  its  place.  We  may  mournfully  think  , 
of  Cowper's  words  in  a  similar  case  : 

"From  such  apostles,  oh  ye  mitred  heads, preserve  the  Church, 
And  lay  not  careless  hands  on  skulls  that  can  not  teach, 
And  will  not  learn." 

The  complaint  is  often  made  by  teachers, 
we  can  not  get  our  children  to  study  the  les- 
son. The  interest  of  the  children  will  always 
be  dependent  upon  the  teacher.  If  the  teacher 
provides  nothing  to  say,  the  children  will  look 
for  nothing  to  hear.     The  previous  study  of 


SPECIAL   PREPARATION.  93 

the  one  will  awaken  the  desire  and  study  of 
the  others.  And  it  would  be  wholly  unnatural 
to  expect  in  the  minds  of  youth  a  spontaneous 
and  continued  interest  in  the  great  subjects  of 
Scriptural  study,  with  no  adequate  or  appro- 
priate efforts  to  awaken  and  maintain  it.  I 
would  entreat  teachers  to  consider  the  import- 
ance of  this  study.  What  a  blessing  to  their 
own  souls  would  be  one  chapter  of  sacred 
Scripture  thus  thoroughly  studied  and  under- 
stood, every  week  !  What  a  fund  of  learning 
and  truth  would  one  year's  work  of  this  kind 
lay  up  for  them  !  And  how  increasing  and 
enlarging  would  become  their  power  to  teach, 
and  their  own  ability  to  understand  the  Word 
of  God,  as  years  go  by  of  such  patient  and 
compensating  toil.  In  the  increasing  religious 
information  of  individual  minds,  the  character 
and  influence  of  ther  Church  become  proportion- 
ably  enlarged,  and  the  pulpit  may  be  encour- 
aged and  enabled  to  speak  of  the  deeper  things 
of  God,  and  the  ministry  grow  in  knowledge 
and  in  wisdom  in  imparting  it. 
In  addition  to  these  qualifications  in  teach- 


94  LOVE   FOR   SOULS. 

ers;  we  want  an  active  and  earnest  love  for 
souls — a  sincere  and  positive  desire  for  their 
salvation.  Love  for  souls  must  flow  from  love 
for  Him  who  bought  them.  The  love  of  Christ 
must  be  the  constraining  power  to  awaken  and 
sustain  this  feeling.  The  mind  which  was  in 
Him,  is  eminently  needful  for  the  Sunday- 
school.  We  can  hardly  conceive  of  true  relig- 
ion that  is  indifferent  to  this  object.  But 
there  is  evidently  a  vast  difference  among 
Christians  in  active  feeling  concerning  it.  In 
our  teachers  we  must  seek  for  this  spirit — and 
encourage  and  labor  to  bring  it  out.  The 
connection  in  which  they  are  placed  is  equally 
solemn  and  interesting.  They  are  the  messen- 
gers of  Christ  to  these  little  ones.  They  are 
employed  to  carry  His  glad  tidings  to  them. 
They  may  be  employed  to  lead  their  ransomed 
souls  to  Him.  What  element  of  usefulness  is 
more  important  to  them  than  a  real  and  earn- 
est love  for  those  to  whom  they  minister  ? 
It  will  labor  in  prayer  for  them.  It  will  pre- 
sent them  individually  and  by  name  before  the 
Lord,  imploring  His  blessing.     It  will  direct 


EFFORTS  FOR   SALVATION.  95 

their  whole  utterance  in  actual  teaching.  It 
will  lead  to  an  observation  and  understanding 
of  their  individual  characters  and  particular 
temptations.  It  will  visit  them  in  their  habi- 
tations— cultivate  an  affectionate  intercourse 
with  them — call  out  their  personal  confidence 
and  grateful  regard — and  make  the  teacher 
known  to  them  as  their  real  and  beloved 
friend.  It  will  devise  many  and  constant 
ways  of  interesting  and  attracting  them.  It 
will  make  the  gaining  them  and  blessing  them 
for  Christ  a  constant  and  real  object  of  thought 
and  effort.  It  is  a  blessed  spirit,  both  as  an 
instrument  in  the  teacher's  hand,  and  as  a 
dweller  in  the  teacher's  heart.  It  must  be 
sought,  watched  over,  and  encouraged  by  every 
teacher.  And  coldness  or  indifference  here 
must  be  felt  to  be,  as  it  really  is,  a  great  and 
dreadful  evil — to  be  guarded  against  and  re- 
pressed in  every  possible  way,  and  by  unceas- 
ing purpose  and  effort.  But  piety,  deep 
experience  in  religion,  extended  Scriptural 
knowledge,  and  ardent  love  for  souls,  vast  and 
precious  as  they  are,  do  not  finish  a  teacher's 
qualifications.  We  must  still  pursue  this  theme. 


TEACHERS. — THE  BEST  NEEDED. — MISSIONARY  FROM  AFRICA.— 
LOVE  THE  RULE. — BOYS  AND  GIRLS  TAUGHT  TOGETHER.— 
FOOLISH  QUARRELS. 

HA  YE  desired  to  speak  of  the  proper 
and  essential  qualifications  in  a  Sunday- 
■>  school  teacher,  with  much  moderation  of 
expression.  Those  which  we  have  con- 
sidered have  been  attributes  and  attain- 
ments, which  however  they  must  vary  in  in- 
dividual instances,  are  certainly  within  the 
reach,  in  a .  fair  measure,  of  every  real  serv- 
ant of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Native  powers  of 
mind,  and  social  opportunities  for  education, 
will  materially  vary  the  degree  of  their  pos- 
session. But  there  are  equal  varieties  of 
children  to  be  cared  for  and  taught  under 
their  influence.  And  with  reasonable  wisdom 
and  discernment  in  the  appropriation  of  teach- 
ers on  the  part  of  the  Superintendent,  there 


THE   BEST   NEEDED.  97 

will  be  found  a  place  for  every  one,  and  an 
adapted  field  for  the  labors  of  all.  As  a  rule  in 
our  experience  in  this  work,  I  believe  the  tes- 
timony will  be  general,  that  we  fail  in  bringing 
for  its  accomplishment  the  best  talent  and  ed- 
ucation in  our  Churches,  and  therefore  are  often 
compelled  to  work  our  great  enterprise  with  in- 
ferior means  and  instruments,  from  the  very  ne- 
cessity of  the  case.  How  this  difficulty  is  to 
be  met,  but  by  an  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  in 
new  measure  upon  our  Churches,  I  can  not 
tell.  I  see  around  me  Christian  men  and 
women  of  the  highest  character  and  position, 
who  have  every  qualification  for  a  successful 
union  with  us — so  far  as  education  and  relig- 
ious attainments  go — who  still  withhold  them- 
selves entirely.  There  seems  no  love  for  souls, 
or  confidence  in  the  importance  of  this  great 
means  of  salvation,  adequate  to  overcome  their 
personal  convenience,  or  the  indolence  and  self- 
indulgence  of  their  tempers.  They  do  not  re- 
alize the  great  fact  that  we  are  really  educating 
the  Church  of  God  in  its  coming  generations, 
and  have  the  vast  responsibility  and  opportu- 

9 


98  MISSIONARY  FROM  AFRICA. 

nity  of  impressing  upon  those  who  are  to  come, 
the  great  truths  and  principles  of  the  Gospel — 
that  we  are  therefore  starting  and  supplying 
little  streams  of  blessing,  which  may  even  in 
their  own  time  flow  down  as  mighty  rivers  of 
Divine  mercy  to  mankind. 

What  blessings  some  teachers  live  to  enjoy  as 
the  divinely  bestowed  fruits  of  their  work  !  A 
beloved  missionary  from  Africa,  who  has  now 
labored  for  eleven  years  on  that  dark  shore,  has 
just  returned  among  us.  He  went  from  all  the 
joys  and  luxuries  of  this  city,  in  the  morning  of 
his  ministry,  to  give  himself  to  the  Lord  for  that 
peculiarly  self-denying  work.  He  found  on  his 
present  return  his  early  Sunday-school  teacher 
still  at  work  in  her  important  trust.  This  be- 
loved missionary  and  another  clergyman  set- 
tled in  this  city,  were  two  of  her  boys,  when 
she  gave  herself,  as  a  youth,  with  peculiar  love 
and  life  to  this  important  work.  The  youth- 
ful teacher  has  passed  into  the  maturer  age  and 
circumstances  of  life,  surrounded  with  her  large 
family  cares  and  calls — and  yet  she  labors  on 
with  all  the  attraction  of  sanctified  talent  and 


LOVE   THE   RULE.  99 

loveliness  of  character,  which  early  blessed,  and 
still  equally  bless  the  generations  of  youth 
committed  to  her.  How  many  there  are 
around  who  might  be  equally  useful,  and 
equally  happy  in  usefulness,  with  far  more 
time  at  their  command,  could  they  attain  the 
same  love  for  the  Saviour  and  His  blessed 
work.  This  is  a  point  on  which  I  deeply  feel, 
and  often  meditate  with  great  distress.  How 
shall  I  call  out  the  best  and  most  efficient  tal- 
ent in  my  Church  in  this  cause  ?  I  can  not 
doubt  that  the  deficiency  is  a  religious  defi- 
ciency. The  real  defect  is  the  want  of  living, 
earnest  piety  and  love  for  Christ — gifts  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  can  alone  impart,  and  the  be- 
stowal of  which  will  be  the  revival  of  His  work 
in  the  Church. 

But  with  the  best  agents  we  can  find,  we 
must  labor  still.  It  is  with  the  Lord  to  save 
by  many  or  by  few.  And  we  too  often  see  our 
" calling"  to  be  but  the  repetition  of  the  Cor- 
inthian experience.  The  mighty,  the  noble, 
and  the  wise  refuse  the  privilege,  while  God 
adorns  and  consecrates  the  weak  things  of  the 


100  LOVE   THE  RULE. 

world  to  be  mighty  through.  Him,  that  they 
who  glory,  may  glory  in  the  Lord  alone.  The 
qualifications  of  which  I  speak  must,  therefore, 
have  relation  to  things  as  they  are.  A  very 
important  addition  to  those  of  which  I  have 
already  spoken,  will  be  a  really  loving  heart, 
affectionate  and  gentle  habits — the  cultivation 
of  an  attractive  demeanor  in  relation  to  the 
children,  and  to  fellow-teachers.  This  surely 
is  a  grace  within  the  reach  of  every  one,  and  is 
equally  valuable  to  its  possessor,  and  to  those 
who  are  to  feel  its  influence.  No  Christian 
employment  more  constantly  or  indispensably 
demands  the  law  of  kindness.  And  no  talents 
or  gifts  can  compensate  here  for  a  rough  or  un- 
kind deportment.  The  law  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  must  be  love.  When  often  asked  for 
the  constitution  and  rules  of  my  schools,  I 
answer  that  they  are  comprised  in  the  four  let- 
ters, LOVE.  Here  is  the  law— and  this' the 
only  fulfilling  of  the  law,  in  a  Sunday-school. 
I  have  more  than  once  passed  classes  under  my 
care,  when  a  teacher  has  called  to  me  to  say, 
"  Here  is  a  «boy  or  girl  that  I  can  do  nothing 


LOVE   THE   RULE.  101 

with  ;  can  you  not  remove  him  or  her  to  some 
other  class  ?"  Now,  how  manifest  was  the  in- 
competence of  the  teacher  under  such  circum- 
stances. Impatience,  want  of  sympathy  and 
tenderness,  to  say  the  very  least,  were  at  the 
bottom  of  the  whole  ;  great  want  of  discretion 
in  openly  announcing  the  disappointment, 
which  was  a  confession  of  incompetency  to  the 
whole  class,  and  extremely  injudicious  and  ir- 
ritating to  the  child  proscribed,  was  very  ap- 
parent. Indifference  to  the  feelings  and  con- 
venience of  fellow- teachers  was  equally  clear. 
In  such  a  case,  nothing  could  be  done  but  to 
remove  the  child.  But  I  should  have  felt  more 
disposed  to  remove  the  teacher,  if  a  greater  re- 
sult of  evil  would  not  have  probably  flowed 
from  it.  A  complaining  teacher  can  do  no 
good.  A  fretful,  peevish,  hasty  teacher  can  do 
no  good.  If  a  child  is  rebellious,  let  a  teacher 
remember  what  fighters  against  God  the  minis- 
try must  meet ;  and  how  surely  every  thing 
will  be  unavailing  in  them  all  for  a  blessing, 
without  a  forbearing,  patient  spirit.     A  smiling 

genial  habit,  a  cheerful,  welcoming  countenance 
9* 


102   BOYS   AND   GIRLS   TAUGHT   TOGETHER. 

— a  morning  face  radiant  with  joy  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord — comes  into  the  school  like  the 
sunshine  of  heaven.  It  is  God's  own  work, 
and  God's  own  mark.  I  can  not  but  say,  "  I 
wrill  rejoice  and  be  glad  therein/' 

To  cultivate  the  influence  of  this  spirit,  I 
feel  the  importance  of  teaching  the  two  sexes 
in  the  same  room.  Indeed,  for  our  smaller 
boys,  females  are  the  best  teachers.  And  for 
all,  there  is  a  refining  and  restraining  influence 
in  the  presence  and  cooperation  of  both  classes 
in  the  common  work.  The  advantages  of  this 
arrangement  I  have  very  thoroughly  proved — 
especially  as  bearing  on  the  one  point  of  which 
I  now  speak.  Years  ago,  I  walked  into  a  boy's 
school,  connected  with  a  church,  and  taught 
in  its  basement — where  I  found  a  complete 
uproar  and  mob.  A  teacher  had  in  some  way 
undertaken  to  compel  a  boy's  submission,  who 
found  a  protector  in  another  teacher — till"  their 
loud  quarrel  overwhelmed  the  school  com- 
pletely, and  I  should  be  ashamed  to  record  the 
things  said  and  done,  which  I  heard  and  saw 
myself.     The  origin  I  knew  not.     But  the 


FOOLISH  QUARRELS.  103 

effect  was  indisputable.  The  teachers  were 
both  respectable  gentlemen,  but  a  hasty  spirit 
stirred  up  strife — and  there  was  no  soft  answer 
to  turn  away  anger.  The  presence  of  the 
other  sex  would  have  rendered  such  a  scene 
impossible.  The  influence  of  the  common  in- 
struction of  both  is  to  instill  a  sense  of  pro- 
priety in  the  roughest — and  to  awaken  and 
cultivate  the  very  spirit  of  affection  and  the 
tenderness  of  manner  and  deportment  of  which 
I  speak.  And  I  have  never  seen  the  case  of 
youthful  hostility  that  affectionate  treatment 
would  not  overcome,  while  some  of  the  rough- 
est specimens  have  brought  out  the  purest  and 
the  most  precious  jewels  I  have  ever  had.  To 
overcome  evil  by  good,  is  the  fundamental  law 
of  useful  teaching.  To  persevere  in  the  deter- 
mination to  do  this,  is  the  condition  of  its  ac- 
complishment. Do  not  charge  me  with  dwell- ' 
ing  too  much  upon  this.  Nothing  can  be 
forced  in  a  Sunday-school.  And  all  the  other 
qualities  being  conceded,  the  whole  success  of 
the  work,  and  the  whole  difference  of  success 
between  two  teachers  in  the  work,  will  depend 


104  RIGHT   SPIRIT. 

at,  last  on  this  simple  quality  of  love  in  the 
heart,  love  in  the  manner;  love  in  the  voice, 
love  in  the  judgment  and  estimation,  love  per- 
severing through  all  obstacles  and  difficulties, 
until  God  has  subdued  the  unruly  and  trans- 
formed the  rebellious  by  the  power  of  His  own 
grace.  This  love  will  pray,  and  wait  with 
patience,  will  forbear  and  plead  with  kindness. 
It  will  be  seen  and  felt  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions. It  will  make  a  teacher  exceedingly 
dear  to  the  children — and  a  precious  blessing 
to  the  school.  How  often  do  I  catch  the 
spark  from  such  a  face,  and  such  a  work,  and 
bless  God  for  the  consolation  which  He  im- 
parts, from  light  and  life  that  He  has  Himself 
kindled  around  me. 


XI. 

TEACHERS. — PUNCTUALITY. — DIVINE  AID. — PRATER. — OPENING 
WORSHIP. — PRAYER  FOR  CHILDREN. — QUIET  ATTENTION. 

)  NE  qualification  in  our  teachers  remains 
unnoticed,  which  must  be  deemed  abso- 
lute and  essential.  It  is  punctuality. 
Eegularity  of  attendance — and  accu- 
racy of  time.  A  shiftless,  uncertain 
Sunday-school  teacher,  sometimes  pres- 
ent, sometimes  absent — sometimes  ready,  gen- 
erally late,  is  like  a  broken  tooth,  and  a  smoke 
in  the  nose.  No  talents  or  qualifications  be- 
sides, can  compensate  for  the  want  of  fidelity 
in  attendance  or  punctuality  in  time.  Habits 
of  order  are  indispensable  in  this  relation  to 
the  comfort  and  to  the  success  of  the  work 
The  estimate  of  personal  responsibility  in  this 
engagement  exhibited  by  a  teacher — the  seri- 
ousness with  which  the  obligation  is  considered 
— the  facility  with  which  it  is  neglected,  or 


106  DIVINE   AID. 

some  other  call  or  obstacle  is  deemed  an  ade- 
quate excuse — are  to  be  regarded  as  no  less 
than  high  moral  traits,  or  radical  moral  defi- 
ciencies. Always  present,  always  ready,  always 
in  time,  are  fundamental  requisitions  in  a  Sun- 
day-school teacher.  Nor  can  any  excuse  be 
adequate  or  reasonable,  which  does  not  involve 
some  obstacle  absolutely  insuperable.  And 
when  absence  is  absolutely  unavoidable,  then 
a  fitting  substitute  should  be  sent  in  the  place. 
The  Superintendent  is  most  unjustly  bur- 
dened, in  the  compulsion  to  hunt  up  impossi- 
ble supplies,  or  to  groan  over  vacancies  which 
can  not  be  filled. 

But  suppose  the  agency  thus  far  considered 
to  be  adequate  and  real — and  these  conditions 
all  complied  with — we  are  not  then  to  forget 
that  this  is  one  of  those  great  works  in  which 
the  blessing  of  the  Lord  alone  maketh  rich. 
As  in  the  work  of  the  appointed  ministry,  we 
realize  here  in  all  our  gains,  and  in  all  our  dis- 
appointments, that  without  His  power  and 
presence  we  can  do  nothing.  The  preparation 
of  the  heart,  and  the  answer  of  the  tongue, 


PRAYER.  107 

are  both  from  Him.  The  forgetfulness  and  the 
want  of  this  Divine  power,  is  an  habitual 
cause,  I  fear,  of  the  failure  of  our  hopes  and 
plans.  The  commanding,  pervading  idea  and 
feeling  in  the  Sunday-school  should  be  the 
spirit  and  habit  of  prayer — sincere,  earnest, 
special  prayer.  The  opening  exercises  of  the 
school  should  be  in  a  spirit  and  manifestation 
of  real  earnestness,  in  this  one  great  purpose 
of  seeking  the  blessing  of  God.  The  whole 
character  and  influence  of  these  opening  exer- 
cises of  worship,  should  be  such  as  to  awaken 
an  interest  in  the  minds  of  the  whole  school,  a 
consciousness  of  the  solemnity  of  the  occupa- 
tion, a  feeling  of  seriousness  in  the  work  to  be 
undertaken,  and  a  real  union  of  heart  in  the 
prayer,  and  praise,  and  exhortation,  to  which 
their  attention  is  called.  Every  thing  in  the 
manner  of  conducting  this  work  becomes  im- 
portant. We  are  dealing  with  little  minds, 
and  every  little  thing  which  may  operate  on 
our  relations  to  them  is  to  be  considered  and 
provided  for.  The  teachers  must  be  punctual, 
and  on  the  spot  in  time.     The  children  must 


108  PRAYER. 

be  taught  to  assemble  in  seriousness  and  quiet- 
ness. They  must  be  in  their  places,  in  readi- 
ness for  the  opening  worship  of  the  school. 
To  allow  a  habit  of  heedless,  desultory  coming 
is  often  to  destroy  completely  the  whole  bene- 
fit anticipated  from  the  gathering.  We  can 
not  safely  permit  teachers  and  children  to  be 
absent  from  the  worship,  or  to  be  tumbling  in 
together,  in  a  noisy  disturbance  of  the  tran- 
quility and  repose  of  its  actual  offering.  This 
must  never  be  considered  a  subordinate  matter. 
We  have  but  a  short  time  for  the  whole  work 
of  the  day.  The  loss  of  any  part  of  it  is  im- 
portant. And  the  idea  can  not  be  suffered, 
that  the  loss  of  the  opening  prayer  is  of  less 
consequence  than  any  subsequent  portion  of 
the  privileges  of  the  occasion.  So  necessary  do 
I  esteem  this  quiet  and  punctual  commence- 
ment, that  my  hope  of  a  blessing  fails  me  if  I 
can  not  obtain  it.  A  few  moments'  silent 
thought  and  secret  prayer  by  the  teachers  and 
children  as  they  come  to  their  places,  is  a 
blessed  opening,  and  a  most  encouraging  sight. 
It  seems  to  say  in  its  expressive  form  of  utter- 


OPENING   WORSHIP.  109 

ance,  "  We  are  all  here  ready  before  the  Lord, 
to  hear  all  things  that  are  commanded  of  Him/' 
It-  inspires  hopeful  anticipations.  The  Lord 
the  Spirit  seems  to  be  in  the  place;  and  the 
work  of  the  day  begins  with  the  dew  upon  the 
grass.  Often  have  I  felt  and  enjoyed  the  en- 
couragement thus  divinely  given.  But  when  I 
see  teachers  and  children  gathering  carelessly, 
wandering  from  place  to  place  in  the  room — 
idly  chatting  with  each  other  over  some  out- 
side or  worldly  subject,  a  buzz  of  confusion, 
which,  however  natural  to  youth,  is  hostile  to 
all  the  engagements  of  the  hour  and  the  place, 
my  heart  has  sunk  in  sadness  over  the  little 
prospect  of  a  blessing  on  our  toil. 

The  opening  worship  should  be  short,  appro- 
priate, and  engaging.  A  hymn  of  praise 
adapted  to  the  minds  of  children,  animated 
and  awakening — a  few  words  of  serious  exhor- 
tation or  address  from  the  Superintendent  to 
the  teachers  and  children — a  prayer  adapted 
also  to  youthful  minds,  and  expressed  in  such 
language  and  sentences  as  they  can  perfectly 

comprehend  and  enjoy — these  may  all  occupy 
10 


110  OPENING  WORSHIP. 

ten  to  fifteen  minutes — in  no  case  to  be  ex- 
tended longer.  This  commencing  work  tests 
the  skill  and  tact  of  the  Superintendent.  In 
it  his  manner  and  voice  should  be  prompt  and 
completely  audible  to  all.  His  own  real  ear- 
nestness should  command  instant  tranquility 
and  attention.  If  he  be  truly  qualified  for  his 
post,  he  will  be  heard,  revered,  and  loved. 
Perfect  order  and  silence  should  reign  through- 
out while  he  is  thus  engaged ;  and  the  whole 
aspect  and  influence  of  the  employment  should 
indicate  the  presence  of  the  Lord  with  His 
children,  and  the  sincerity  and  spiritual  char- 
acter and  habits  of  those  who  are  seeking  Him. 
For  this  opening  of  the  school,  I  by  no  means 
prefer  a  form  of  prayer,  if  the  Superintendent 
be  qualified  to  express  with  propriety  and  to 
edification,  the  wants  and  feelings  of  the  child- 
ren whom  he  represents.  And  of  all  the  forms 
I  have  ever  seen,  I  confess  no  one  has  ap- 
peared to  me,  in  any  sufficient  degree,  appro- 
priate to  the  special  demands  of  this  occasion. 
There  should  be  simplicity  without  trifling — 
true  Scriptural  sentiment  in  the  plainest  and 


PRAYER   FOR   CHILDREN.  Ill 

most  intelligible  terms — thoughts  and  wants 
expressed  such  as  children  may  truly  feel — pe- 
titions calculated  to  lead  their  minds  to  an  ac- 
tual engagement  in  the  worship.  It  is  not  a 
prayer  for  the  children.  This  may  and  ought 
to  be  offered,  indeed,  by  the  teachers  with  all 
their  hearts.  But  this  is  a  prayer  of  the  child- 
ren for  themselves  ;  and,  to  be  real  and  sin- 
cere, it  must  be  such  as  they  can  understand 
and  appropriate  without  difficulty  and  in  truth. 
I  dwell  upon  this  because  I  esteem  it  a  most 
serious  step  in  the  work,  either  for  good  or 
evil.  Prayer  is  here,  as  everywhere,  a  real  pe- 
tition for  blessings  desired,  and,  because  prom- 
ised, expected.  It  is  the  real  seeking  of  Grod's 
own  presence  and  blessing  upon  the  work  be- 
fore them ;  and  it  must,  therefore,  be  a  true 
and  living  thing.  I  have  been  present  in  dif- 
ferent schools,  where  the  voice  of  the  Superin- 
tendent did  not  reach  the  ears  of  many  of  the 
children  ;  and  where  there  was  so  much  con- 
fusion and  under-noise  that  his  words  could 
not  be  fairly  heard  ;  and  where  the  language 
was  so  mature  and  elevated  that  it  was  unin- 


112  QUIET   ATTENTION. 

telligible  and  useless.  Now  if  we  are  to  con- 
sider this  exercise  as  a  priestly  intercession  for 
others — then,  so  that  the  Being  to  whom  it  is 
addressed  understands  it,  the  whole  may  be  in 
an  unknown  tongue  to  them.  But  we  have  no 
such  thought.  It  is  a  filial,  united  supplica- 
tion of  God's  little  ones  to  Him.  It  is  the 
cry  of  the  lambs  to  the  Great  and  Good  Shep- 
herd. If  one  speaks  for  them,  they  all  speak, 
and  they  have  a  right  to  an  utterance  which 
they  can  make,  and  comprehend  when  made. 
The  positive,  actual  nature  of  real  prayer  must 
not  be  forgotten.  We  can  do  nothing  without 
the  Spirit  of  God.  And  we  therefore  combine 
and  agree  to  ask  for  His  Spirit.  The  key  to 
the  whole  influence  of  the  hour  may  be  found 
in  this  first  commencement  of  the  work. 

This  serious,  earnest  spirit  should  pervade 
the  whole  occasion.  We  are  dealing  with  im- 
mortal beings  upon  everlasting  concerns,  and 
the  whole  influence  and  feeling  in  the  work 
should  be  coincident  with  this  commanding 
thought.  The  general  spirit  of  the  place  must 
be  earnest  and  solemn.     There  should  be  a 


QUIET   ATTENTION.  113 

quietness  which  is  the  very  result  of  this  solem- 
nity of  feeling  in  the  minds  of  all.  It  is  dis- 
mal to  hear  a  Superintendent  shouting  for  si- 
lence, and  constantly  ringing  a  miserable  bell, 
that  seems  itself  to  be  the  very  sound  and  in- 
dex of  disgrace  and  indifference.  So  that  the 
voices  engaged  were  really  drawn  out  by  earn- 
estness in  the  occupation,  I  would  rather  hear 
almost  any  amount  of  noise  in  the  voices  of 
the  children  than  this  constant  acknowledg- 
ment of  deficiency  in  the  Superintendent. 
What  is  wanting  is  an  influence — the  influence 
of  prayer — of  real  religious  character  and  per- 
sonal example — a  pervading  spirit  of  affection- 
ate confidence,  mutual  and  engaging,  between 
children  and  teachers  and  Superintendent. 
And  his  presence  and  influence  must  be  felt  in 
every  portion  of  the  work.  Evils  are  to  be 
remedied  by  prevention.  Difficulties  are  to  be 
anticipated.  And  a  faithful  and  qualified  Su- 
perintendent will  carry  round  with  him  that 
gentle  and  gracious  authority  which  requires 
no  vehemence  ;  that  personal  character  which 
attracts  and  governs  by  attracting,  rather  than 
10* 


114  QUIET    ATTENTION. 

by  any  language  of  rebuke  or  displeasure.  It 
is  this  spiritual,  healthful  atmosphere  which  is 
wanting  first  of  all,  in  the  agency  of  a  Sunday 
school — the  atmosphere  of  order,  of  love,  of 
real  earnestness  in  the  Lord's  work  as  here  ar- 
ranged. And  though  this  is  made  up  of  de- 
tails and  elements,  I  first  look  at  the  combina- 
tion in  actual  operation.  The  school  thus  de- 
scribed, is  blessed  in  its  whole  character  and 
results.  When  we  enter  it,  and  stand  in  it  for 
a  season  however  short,  we  see  that  there  is  a 
real  earnestness  and  spirit  of  love  at  work, 
which  could  only  come  from  God,  and  is  the 
precious  evidence  that  the  Lord  is  there. 


XII. 

SUPERINTENDENT. — PUNCTUALITY. CHRISTIAN     CHARACTER. 

INTELLIGENCE. — KINDNESS. 

UK  last  view  of  the  school  in  actual 
operation,  brings  us  at  once  to  a  point 
which  is  of  unsurpassed  importance  in 
the  general  subject  we  are  considering. 
I  mean  the  character  and  qualifications 
of  a  suitable  Superintendent.  Everything  in 
the  actual  management  of  the  work  must  de- 
pend upon  him.  His  power  must  be  supreme. 
He  is  the  executive  officer  of  the  little  com- 
munity ;  and  however  appointed,  whether  by 
the  pastors,  or  the  Church,  or  the  teachers,  or 
be  himself  the  pastor,  he  must  be  obeyed  sim- 
ply and  implicitly  in  all  the  business  of  the 
school  in  actual  session.  He  has  no  time  to 
discuss  questions  there  with  any  one.  Not 
even  the  authority  which  has  constituted  him 
can  be  permitted  there  to  interfere  with  the 


116    .  SUPERINTENDENT. 

work  intrusted  to  him.  He  must  designate 
and  appoint  the  work  and  classes  of  the  teach- 
ers. If  teachers  fail  in  efficiency  or  duty,  the 
power  of  arresting  the  evil  must  be  in  his  hands. 
And  in  the  whole  management  and  order  of 
the  operation  in  actual  work,  a  clear  and  con- 
ceded supremacy  must  be  in  his  person.  Any 
other  view  of  his  rights  and  station,  with  the 
entire  absence  of  means  of  mere  physical  con- 
trol, would  convert  the  school  into  a  mob. 
And  in  selecting  a  superintendent,  this  whole 
view  of  power  and  responsibility  must  be  clearly 
and  fully  met.  You  can  not  doubt,  therefore, 
that  the  superintendent  must  be  a  person  of 
very  advanced  and  positive  qualifications.  And 
in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  school,  will  the 
demand  for  such  qualifications  be  the  more  ab- 
solute and  indispensable.  Some  of  these  qual- 
ifications, and  by  no  means  those  of  least  con- 
sequence, will  appear  to  be  very  external  and 
secondary.     Yet  they  must  be  had. 

Inherent  punctuality  of  nature,  and  inva- 
riable punctuality  in  habit,  is  indispensable. 
Never  should  one  minute  elapse  from  the  ap- 


PUNCTUALITY.  117 

pointed  time  of  commencement,  of  division  of 
the  work,  or  of  the  close.  Punctuality  in  the 
superintendent  is  punctuality  in  the  root,  for 
the  school.  In  every  one  else  it  must  grow 
from  him.  The  absence  of  it  there  will  break 
up  and  wear  out  the  most  flourishing  enter- 
prise in  this  wort.  Order  in  arrangement  and 
in  memory  of  his  routine  is  equally  indispensa- 
ble. In  no  human  relation  is  this  habit  of 
more  value  and  efficacy.  The  actual  colloca- 
tion of  the  classes — an  eye  to  that  which  is 
appropriate  and  suitable  in  inferior  but  not 
unimportant  circumstances,  in  the  harmonious 
adjustment  of  the  whole,  even  in  relation  to 
the  beauty  and  propriety  in  the  aspect  of  the 
school— are  here  important  facts.  The  first 
look  at  a  Sunday-school  will,  to  an  expe- 
rienced eye,  declare  the  character  and  adapta- 
tion of  the  superintendent.  He  should  have 
an  adequate  and  prompt  voice — that  can  be 
heard  by  every  one  without  effort  or  constraint 
— that  will  be  heard  and  understood  at  once, 
from  the  simplicity  and  distinctness  of  its  ex- 
pression.   Much  of  the  happiness  and  success 


118  CHRISTIAN    CHARACTER. 

of  the  school  depends  upon  this.  Teachers 
can  not  be  confused  with  indistinct  sounds, 
nor  children  bewildered  with  unintelligible 
commands.  The  superintendent's  manner  must 
be  simple,  prompt,  calm,  adequate  to  command 
attention,  or  he  fails  entirely.  He  must  be  a 
person  of  few  words  and  peaceful  habits.  A 
perpetual  haranguing — long,  indefinite,  and 
dilatory  prayers — gangling  and  disjointed  ex- 
hortations— habits  of  chattering  and  familiar 
interference  with  teachers  or  scholars,  are  more 
out  of  place  in  a  Sunday-school,  perhaps,  than 
anywhere  besides.  Every  thing  must  be  real, 
actual,  self-demonstrative,  to  command  the 
attention  or  to  win  the  confidence  of  chil- 
dren. These  are  all  simple  and  external 
qualifications,  but  they  are  of  immense  con- 
sequence in  the  successful  management  of  this 
work. 

But  there  are  much  higher  qualities  which 
must  be  sought  in  a  successful  superintendent. 
He  must  be  one  of  known  and  real  Christian 
character — standing  in  the  Church  of  God, 
both  socially  if  possible,  and  personally  sure* 


CHRISTIAN   CHARACTER.  119 

ly,  as  a  Christian  of  influence  and  acknowl- 
edged position.  His  office  is  to  be  one  of 
personal  influence  entirely.  It  often  is  the 
fact,  that  one  whose  relations  in  the  world  are 
by  no  means  exalted,  may  still  be  in  the 
Church,  from  the  known  excellence  of  his 
character  and  fidelity  of  his  walk,  a  person  of 
distinguished  influence  and  position.  I  have 
known  many  such,  and  some  whose  personal 
excellence  and  intelligence,  though  among  the 
poor  of  this  world,  gave  them  a  very  com- 
manding power  in  the  Church.  The  superin- 
tendent of  a  Sunday-school  must  be  known  as 
a  man  of  Christian  holiness  and  fidelity — to 
whose  counsel  reference  may  be  had  in  relig- 
ious questions  with  confidence,  and  whose  per- 
sonal reputation  at  the  head  of  his  school  will 
give  reputation  and  authority  to  its  teachers 
and  scholars,  as  being  engaged  with  him  in 
such  a  work.  He  should  be  a  man  of  earnest 
piety  and  prayer.  He  is  to  be  the  leader  in  a 
very  important  work  for  the  Lord — a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Church,  and  of  the  Head  of 
the  Church,  in  a  very  responsible  relation,  and 


120  CHRISTIAN   CHARACTER. 

should  be  one  whose  whole  heart  is  in  the  labor 
in  which  he  is  to  be  engaged. 

His  personal  influence  is  of"  vast  consequence 
in  its  reflected  power  through  all  the  week.  If 
teachers  must  blush  over  the  report  of  his  short- 
comings in  business  or  relative  duty,  or  children 
must  listen  to  his  name  mingled  with  expressions 
of  derision  or  censure  from  others,  it  is  impos- 
sible but  that  such  facts  must  overthrow  his 
whole  power  in  his  Sabbath  work.  He  must 
be  a  person  of  quick  and  intelligent  percep- 
tions, so  that  he  may  become  readily  ac- 
quainted with  the  teachers,  understand  their 
characters  and  their  peculiar  wants — and  be  a 
kind  and  competent  adviser  to  them  in  any 
questions  in  their  work,  or  even  in  their  per- 
sonal condition,  apart  from  this  peculiar  rela- 
tion. He  ought  to  be  able  to  know  the  chil- 
dren personally,  as  far  as  possible,  and  at  any 
rate  to  be  able  to  discern  the  adaptation  be- 
tween the  children  and  the  teachers  in  their 
peculiar  connections,  on  the  successful  manage- 
ment of  which  so  much  of  the  happiness  and 
success  of  the  school  depends.     He  should  be 


INTELLIGENCE.  121 

a  person  of  kind  and  friendly  manners,  win- 
ning and  retaining  an  affectionate  confidence 
in  his  sincerity  and  his  real  wish  for  the  hap- 
piness of  all  who  are  here  connected  with  him. 
Perhaps  in  no  other  relation  is  this  character- 
istic of  greater  consequence.  And  how  much 
comfort  and  pleasure  a  bland  and  conciliating 
manner  in  the  superintendent  imparts  to  the 
whole  work  of  teaching  and  training  in  the 
Sunday-school,  many  of  our  readers  will  be 
able  to  testify  from  a  variety  of  facts  in  their 
own  observation. 

In  addition  to  all  these,  a  superintendent 
must  practically  understand  this  work.  The 
Scriptures  which  are  taught  he  must  be  able 
to  expound  with  propriety  and  usefulness  in 
the  meetings  of  teachers,  and  to  apply  in 
their  principles,  in  short  and  useful  exhorta- 
tions, now  and  then  addressed  to  the  school. 
The  real  purpose  and  method  of  the  school 
must  be  familiar  to  him ;  and  if  he  be  a 
man  of  tact,  of  quickness,  of  intelligence,  as 
well  as  a  mature  and  respected  Christian,  how 
can  he  find  a  place  of  more  usefulness  or  more 
11 


122  KINDNESS. 

happiness  than  this  ?  "With  such  a  head  to 
the  school,  how  harmoniously  and  happily 
every  thing  works  !  And  with  entire  mutual 
confidence  between  the  teachers,  superintend- 
ent, and  scholars,  is  there  a  place  on  earth  of 
greater  happiness,  or  a  work  on  earth  of  greater 
delight,  than  the  employment  and  exercise  of 
the  Sunday-school  ?  It  becomes  the  abode  of 
peace  and  blessedness — a  little  heaven  below. 
The  influence  and  atmosphere  are  all  on  the 
Lord's  side,  and  children  grow  up  there  with 
all  the  tastes,  habits,  and  advantages  of  which 
I  have  spoken  in  earlier  letters.  I  hope  I  shall 
not  be  thought  exacting  or  impracticable  in  my 
views  in  this  letter.  I  have  had  experience  in 
the  past  years,  on  both  sides  of  this  experi- 
ment, and  speak  in  this,  as  on  every  other 
point  considered,  just  as  I  have  been  led  to 
think.  It  may  be  that  such  an  utterance  will 
stir  up  superintendents  as  well  as  teachers  to 
an  effort  for  constant  improvement  in  their 
own  qualifications,  and  drive  away  the  indo- 
lent thought,  that  all  this  is  mere  convenience 
and  not  duty  or  necessity  for  them.     Let  us 


KINDNESS.  123 

realize  the  old  proverb,  that  "whatever  is 
worth  doing,  is  worth  doing  well ;"  and  with 
united  hearts  devote  to  this  all-important  work 
the  best  energies  and  the  utmost  industry  which 
we  can  command  in  its  prosecution. 


XIII. 

ANNIVERSARIES. — ANNIVERSARY  BOOKS. — MISSIONARY  CONTRI- 
BUTIONS.— ELEVENTH  ANNIVERSARY. — ST.  GEORGE'S. — AC- 
COUNT OF  SCHOOLS. 

i  INCE  I  had  the  pleasure  of  writing  my 
last,  the  Eleventh  Anniversary  of  my 
Sunday-schools  at  St.  George's  has  oc- 
curred, and  furnishes  a  subject  as  an  in- 
cident in  our  line  of  thought  at  this 
point.  I  have  always  counted  much  upon  the 
influence  of  an  interesting  and  well-arranged 
anniversary,  as  very  important  in  a  Sunday- 
school.  And  for  this  reason,  I  have  been  un- 
willing to  merge  my  own  local  anniversary  in 
any  common  meeting  of  children  in  school 
unions  either  of  places  or  churches.  The  or- 
derly influence  of  an  appointed  and  regular 
anniversary  as  a  point  in  arranging  and  com- 
pleting the  year's  work  and  plans,  is  very  valu- 
able. It  brings  every  part  of  the  work  up  to  a 
fixed  settlement,  and  thus  gives  additional  force 


ANNIVERSARIES.  125 

to  the  system  and  method  of  operation,  and  to 
the  consciousness  and  feeling  of  responsibility. 
If  well  conducted,  the  exercises  of  an  anniver- 
sary give  solidity  to  the  aspect  of  the  school — 
attract  attention   to   it — tend  to  enlarge  its 
bounds  by  bringing  in  other  children — give  a 
measure  of  satisfaction  and  contentment  to  the 
scholars  and  teachers  engaged — and  make  the 
whole  work  appear  as  an  actual  and  important 
part  of  the  congregation  and  church  to  which 
the  school  belongs.     I  have  never  failed  in  car- 
rying out  this  view  in  practical  experiment  for 
more  than  thirty  years  past.     And  I  am  quite 
satisfied,  that  no  element  in  my  management  of 
the  Sunday-schools  committed  to  me  has  been 
more  valuable,  as  an  instrument  of  influence 
upon  others,  either  in  the  way  of  encourage- 
ment to  other  schools  and  teachers,  or  of  en- 
largement of  my  own.     The  exercises  of  these 
anniversaries  have  varied  as  our  experience  and 
observation  have  advanced.     For  the  first  five 
years  of  the  period  specified  above,  we  were 
merely  accustomed  to  a  few  hymns,  and  an  ad- 
dress or  sermon,  and  felt  unable  to  demand  the 
11* 


126  ANNIVERSARY   BOOKS. 

foremost  place  for  our  children.  So  we  placed 
them  in  the  gallery,  and  allowed  the  congrega- 
tion to  occupy  the  floor  of  the  church.  We 
were  few  in  numbers,  and  with  but  little  com- 
parative influence  as  an  institution.  "When  we 
opened  the  church  of  the  Epiphany  twenty- 
six  years  ago;  we  had  made  the  Sunday-school 
effort  so  fundamental  'there,  that  I  felt  able  to 
make  a  great  advance.  Then  our  anniversary 
was  made  an  occasion  for  itself,  and  we  claimed 
the  floor  of  the  church  for  the  children,  and 
left  the  galleries  to  the  congregation.  This 
plan  of  occupation  I  have  never  varied  since. 
There  also  I  added,  as  a  new  feature,  a  dona- 
tion of  a  book  to  every  scholar,  as  an  anniversary 
token  of  affection  and  interest  from  the  con- 
gregation. This  also  I  have  constantly  main- 
tained, considering  it  in  no  degree  a  reward^ 
and  graduating  the  worth  in  no  shape  of  pro- 
portion to  supposed  individual  merit ;  but  hav- 
ing it  bestowed  and  received  as  an  expression 
of  interest  and  mutual  remembrance.  It  de- 
lights me  now  to  see  in  the  houses  of  some  of 
my  children  quite  a  library  of  these  anniver- 


MISSIONARY   CONTRIBUTIONS.  127 

sary  books,  preserved  with   the  utmost  care, 
and  valued  as  very  precious  remembrances  of 
affection.     They  are  little^anchar&-of  love  and 
bonds  of  union,  everywhere  multiplied;  which 
tend  to  hold  these  children  fast  to  the  Church 
in  which  they  have  been  taught,  and  to  the 
pastor  around  whom  they  have  learned  to  cling. 
This  is  an  expensive  addition  to  the  anniver- 
sary, but  not  more  so  than  it  is  worth.     I  in- 
clude it  in  my  annual  calculation  of  cost. 
And  years  of  experiment  have  proved  to  me, 
that  the  whole  cost  of  Sunday-school  manage- 
ment on  the  most  liberal  scale,  including  ques- 
tion-books, Bibles,  hymn-books,  children's  pa-  hh   s 
pers,  libraries,  and  necessary  printing,  with  the b Jx( 
anniversary  books  added,  maybe  brought  with-^j  ^ 
in  two  cents  a  Sunday  for  each  scholar.     Surely  '      [? v 
the  Christian  Church  can  not  ask  for  a  more    w  /\ 
economical  expenditure  or  more  effective  in- ,  y\  < 
vestment  than  this.  Xy 

For  six  or  seven  years  past  we  have  added 
another  important  feature  to  our  anniversary 
in  our  missionary  arrangement.  We  used  to 
be  satisfied  with  a  regular  collection  of  money 


128  MISSIONARY   CONTRIBUTIONS. 

in  the  school,  either  weekly  or  monthly,  for 
missionary  purposes,  and  found  it  difficult  to 
advance  the  effort  or  the  interest  beyond  a  very 
small  amount.  About  the  time  just  specified, 
Eev.  Dr.  Newton,  my  present  excellent  succes- 
sor and  brother  at  St.  Paul's,  Philadelphia, 
proposed  and  adopted  a  plan  of  organizing 
every  class  in  his  schools  into  a  district  mis- 
sionary society,  to  collect  its  own  funds,  and 
report  them  with  the  amount  presented  at  the 
anniversary  of  the  school.  The  plan  was  beau- 
tiful in  thought,  and  perfectly  feasible  and  ef- 
fective in  operation.  I  could  only  congratulate 
my  valued  friend  upon  the  conception,  and 
cheerfully  adopt  it.  I  made  it  at  once  a  part 
of  my  own  anniversary  proceedings.  And  it 
enlarged  our  missionary  collections  in  the 
school  the  first  year  from  $250  to  $650,  and  it 
has  now  brought  them  up  to  more  than  $4,000, 
with  no  troublesome  or  burdensome  effort.  I 
have  been  delighted  to  see  the  same  system 
carried  out  in  multitudes  of  schools  through- 
out the  churches  of  our  land.  Every  class  is  a 
missionary  society,  with  its  own  name  chosen 


MISSIONARY   CONTRIBUTIONS.  129 

by  itself.  Each  one  collects  in  its  own  way, 
and  among  its  own  social  opportunities  and  re- 
lations, and  by  its  own  means.  Accordingly, 
they  must  vary  much  in  their  results,  as  their 
circumstances,  their  interest,  and  their  indus- 
try vary  so  entirely.  Yet  the  poorer  children 
and  teachers  are  often  not  only  the  more  lib- 
eral contributors  in  proportion  to  their  means, 
but  also  often  the  largest  in  actual  amount. 
These  amounts  are  weekly  and  constantly 
gathered,  and  kept  by  an  appointed  treasurer 
for  each  class,  and  publicly  presented  at  the 
anniversary  in  such  shape  as  each  adopts. 
Emblematic  figures,  baskets  of  flowers,  or 
whatever  token  may.  occur  to  their  own  mind 
as  most  appropriate  to  the  name  adopted,  are 
carried  to  the  pastor,  who  presides  at  the  anni- 
versary, and  the  amount  of  each  is  separately 
announced.  Then  for  the  first  time  is  it  known 
to  any  one  how  much  have  been  the  missionary 
collections  of  the  year.  This  new  feature  has 
vastly  increased  the  interest  of  our  anniversary 
occasions,  and,  as  the  results  show,  has  added 
a  great  impetus  to  the  growth  and  power 


130  MISSIONARY   CONTRIBUTIONS. 

of  the  school.  We  have,  therefore,  now  in- 
corporated this  as  an  additional  feature.  In 
Dr.  Newton's  plan,  the  missionary  collection 
has  superseded  the  anniversary  book,  and  the 
children  are  the  only  apparent  givers.  The 
view  which  I  have  taken  of  the  anniversary 
books,  made  me  wholly  averse  to  taking  from 
the  congregation  the  privilege  of  giving  to  the 
children,  and  I  have  therefore  maintained  the 
united  and  reciprocal  action — the  children  giv- 
ing to  the  work  of  the  Church  of  their  own 
savings  and  collections — and  the  Church  giving 
to  the  children,  as  their  personal  offering,  a 
token  of  their  interest  and  love.  The  propor- 
tion of  the  two  is,  that  the  Church  give  now 
to  the  children  on  this  day  not  more  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  amount  which  the  children  give  to 
the  Church.  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  go 
into  the  details  of  our  school  collections.  They 
must  always  depend  upon  the  earnestness,  in- 
dustry, and  tact  of  the  various  teachers,  schol- 
ars, and  superintendent  and  pastor — and  thus 
are  an  admirable  school  and  exercise  for  all 
these  gifts,   and    for  their  improvement,   as 


ELEVENTH   ANNIVERSARY.  131 

the  necessity  becomes  the  mother  of  inven- 
tion. 

Our  Eleventh  Anniversary  was  held  as  usual 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  Sunday  after  Easter, 
this  year,  the  15th  of  April.  The  galleries  and 
vacant  spaces  beside  the  actual  pews  and  aisles 
of  the  floor  of  the  church,  were  given  to  the 
congregation,  and  were  crowded  long  before 
our  exercises  began.  The  schools  assembled 
at  their  rooms,  and  moved  from  thence  to  the 
church  at  3  p.  m.  The  pastor  was  in  the  pul- 
pit to  receive  them.  The  organist  played  an 
accompaniment  as  they  entered.  They  came 
in  perfect  order,  and  occupied  the  pews  desig- 
nated for  them,  each  teacher  preceding  the 
class,  and  having  a  card  indicating  the  aisle, 
the  side  of  the  aisle,  and  the  number  of  the 
pews  severally  assigned.  They  entered  the 
church  in  the  following  order :  First,  our  Main 
or  Church  School.  I.  Female  Bible-class,  1 
teacher  and  25  scholars.  II.  Female  Bible- 
class,  1  teacher  and  63  scholars.  III.  Male 
Bible-class,  1  teacher  and  28  scholars.  These 
may  all  be  called  adult  classes.    IV.  The  First 


132  ACCOUNT   OF   SCHOOLS. 

Infant-class,  1  teacher  and  150  scholars.  V. 
The  Second  Infant-class,  2  teachers  and  309 
scholars.  VI.  The  Female  Intermediate 
School,  32  teachers  and  253  scholars.  VII. 
The  Male  Intermediate  School,  22  teachers 
and  189  scholars — making  in  our  whole  Church 
Sunday-school  63  teachers  and  officers,  and 
1,017  scholars.  When  all  these  were  seated 
and  arranged,  in  silence  and  without  confu- 
sion, the  English  Mission-school  entered,  in  the 
same  orderly  arrangement,  preceded  by  their 
minister,  Kev.  Mr.  Bolton.  I.  The  Infant- 
school,  1  teacher  and  150  scholars.  II.  The 
Female  Bible-class,  1  teacher  and  16  scholars. 
III.  The  Male  Bible-class,  1  teacher  and  10 
scholars.  IV.  The  Female  School,  12  teachers 
and  96  scholars.  V.  The  Male  School,  14 
teachers  and  110  scholars — making  35  teach- 
ers and  officers  and  382  scholars.  Following 
these,  the  German  Mission-school  entered,  with 
their  minister,  Bev.  Dr.  Schramm,  preceding 
them.  I.  The  Male  School,  4  teachers  and  70 
scholars.  II.  The  Female  School,  5  teachers 
and  61  scholars — making  9  teachers  and  131 


ACCOUNT   OF    SCHOOLS.  133 

scholars.  Our  whole  assemblage,  therefore, 
amounted  to  107  teachers,  and  1;530  scholars.. 
These  are  our  parish  Sunday-schools,  exclusive 
of  our  parish  week-day  teaching  work  and 
numbers,  which  do  not  come  up  under  this 
head,  and  which  increase  our  whole  number 
of  teachers  and  children  to  2,224.  Our  exer- 
cises were  simple  and  familiar.  The  multitude 
of  children  united  in  their  hymns  in  the  fullest 
and  finest  manner.  The  Infant-schools  and 
the  German  school  each  sung  a  separate  hymn 
— the  latter  in  their  own  tongue.  The  ser- 
mon was  on  the  way  to  prosper  in  the  Lord's 
work — from  2  Chronicles  xxxi.  21,  u  In  every 
work  that  he  began  in  the  service  of  God,  he 
did  it  with  all  his  heart,  and  prospered."  These 
points  were  illustrated  and  enforced  by  facts 
and  instances.  1.  He  did  it.  2.  He  did  it 
with  his  heart.  3.  He  did  it  with  all  his 
heart. — Thus  he  prospered.  After  the  address, 
the  missionary  offerings  were  presented  by 
messengers  from  successive  classes.  The  sums 
varied  from  $2  up  to  $218,  from  different 
classes — amounting  in  the  whole  to  $4,224. 
12 


134  ACCOUNT   OF    SCHOOLS. 

The  Mission-school  surprised  and  delighted 
me  in  this  :  the  English  school  offering 
$163  75 ;  the  German  school  $18  50,  and  the 
Infant  school  $7  ;  in  all  $189  25,  from  the 
children  of  the  poor.  It  was  most  affecting 
to  see  four  of  these  boys  bearing  on  a  platform 
a  beautiful  model  of  the  Mission  chapel,  with 
a  banner  from  the  roof  inscribed  "Our  Chap- 
el/'— as  the  emblem  of  their  gift  and  their 
school.  After  another  hymn,  the  anniversary 
books  were  distributed  through  all  thfc  school, 
to  every  teacher  and  scholar — making  about 
1;600  volumes — expressive  of  the  love  and  in- 
terest of  the  congregation.  Two  hours  were 
occupied  in  all  these  exercises,  and  the  crowd, 
unwearied,  seemed  unwilling  even  then  to  de- 
part. The  whole  result  was  to  create  a  deeper 
attachment  in  St.  George's  to  our  Sunday- 
school  work,  and  to  confirm  my  thoughts  and 
convictions  yet  more  completely  in  the  conclu- 
sion long  since  adopted,  of  the  unrivaled  im- 
portance to  a  Sunday-school  of  a  pleasant  and 
effective  anniversary. 


XIV. 

RELATION  TO  THE  CHURCH. — GENERAL  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  CAUSE. 

— INDEPENDENCE  OF  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. CHANGE  OF 

FEELING  IN  THE  CHURCH. 

^Y  past  letters  have  led  to  many  in- 
quiries and  suggestions  to  me  from 
friends  and  brethren  in  all  directions, 
and  upon  all  subjects  in  any  way 
connected  with  our  chosen  theme. 
Many  of  these  are  so  entirely  theoretical  in 
their  character,  that  I  can  do  little  for  them 
or  with  them.  Important  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions and  abstract  schemes  of  doctrine  and  au- 
thority might  be  appended  to  these  familiar 
letters  by  a  mind  more  speculative  or  better 
taught  than  mine.  But  they  do  not  present 
themselves  in  the  line  of  my  purpose,  nor 
would  the  discussion  of  them  appear  to  me 
profitable  in  this  relation.  My  whole  connec- 
tion with  Sunday-schools  has  been  in  their 


136  RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH. 

common  practical  management.  I  have  few 
ideas  and  less  taste  to  lead  me  in  any*  way 
wide  of  this  simple  line.  But  there  is  one 
question  repeatedly  asked,  the  issue  of  which 
is  extremely  practical  to  both  sides  involved, 
viz. :  What  is  the  proper  relation  of  the  Sun- 
day-school to  the  church?  Perhaps  we  are 
bound  in  propriety  of  thought  to  look  at  this. 
Yet  I  should  wish  to  consider  it  in  a  very  plain 
and  practical  way.  The  term  Church  is  really 
so  indefinite  and  multiform  in  its  application, 
that  we  feel  ourselves  encompassed  by  a  cloud 
whenever  we  employ  it  for  any  technical  pur- 
pose. No  single  man  uses  it  but  in  habitually 
various  connections,  and  no  two  men,  perhaps, 
give  the  same  interpretation  to  it  in  their  own 
thoughts,  when  it  is  heard  or  employed.  If 
we  take  the  Saviour's  interpretation  of  His 
Church, — Wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  His  name  He  is  also  present  with 
them, — our  Sunday-schools  every  where  origin- 
ate in  the  Church,  and  are  a  real  embodiment 
and  accomplishing  of  the  work  of  the  Church, 
and  an  exhibition  of  the  Church  at  work  in  one  of 


GENERAL  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  CAUSE.   137 

the  most  important  of  its  offices  on  earth — the 
feeding  and  guiding  of  the  lambs  of  the  Lord's 
flock  If  we  assume  the  title  as  describing  the 
organized  outward  assembly  of  professed  Chris- 
tians in  their  concrete  relation  as  a  social  body, 
then  the  Sunday-school  may  be  considered  as  a 
separate  part  of  the  Christian  work,  and  a  dis- 
tinct organization  for  its  peculiar  purpose  of 
usefulness.  In  this  view  of  the  Church,  it  is 
certain  Sunday-schools  did  not  originate  there. 
They  were  not  created,  nor  for  many  years  up- 
held, by  any  law  or  action  of  this  body,  wher- 
ever located.  But  this  is  equally  true  of  the 
most  of  the  works  of  Christian  benevolence  in 
the  world.  These  have  been  habitually  started 
by  private  and  individual  effort  and  agreement. 
The  Sunday-schools  of  our  country  have  gen- 
erally originated  in  the  personal,  voluntary  as- 
sociations and  labors  of  individual  Christians  ; 
often  of  Christians  from  various  organized 
Churches,  combining  together  as  in  a  common 
cause,  and  for  a  common  benefit.  For  many 
years  the  great  majority  of  our  schools  were  so 
sustained  and  so  managed.  And  in  the  great 
12* 


138    INDEPENDENCE   OF    SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

efforts  of  our  own  time  for  extending  and  es- 
tablishing Sunday-schools,  the  work  is  carried 
on  by  agencies  wholly  independent  of  any  gov- 
erning Church,  and  the  schools  established  are 
far  more  generally  the  parents  of  Churches 
which.  grow  from  them,  than  the  results  of 
any  Church  management  or  action.  It  is  this 
fact  in  the  history  of  Sunday-schools  which 
has  given  rise  to  the  question  proposed,  and 
which  perhaps  has  awakened  and  fostered  in 
many  cases  a  jealous  spirit  of  independence,  in 
fear  of  some  relative  action  which  may  be  un- 
desirable and  oppressive.  Our  Sunday-schools 
have  been  the  results,  on  the  one  side,  of  hu- 
man necessities  perceived  ;  and  on  the  other, 
of  the  Christian  spirit  of  benevolence  and  love 
divinely  imparted.  They  grew  up  with  the 
simple  design  and  desire  of  direct  usefulness  to 
children  neglected,  and  not  from  any  plan  of 
church-extension  or  organization  as  a  scheme 
of  work  or  power.  They  appeared  to  be  the 
private  property  and  enterprise  of  individual 
Christians.  And  when  a  community  of  per- 
sons who  perhaps  had  done  little  or  nothing 


INDEPENDENCE   OF'  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.       139 

individually  to  encourage  and  maintain  them, 
claimed  authority  over  them,  a  hesitation  of 
submission  was  felt  and  expressed,  by  no  means 
unnatural  or,  unreasonable. 

But  though  there  still  remain  many  such 
schools,  and  such  alone  will  be  generally  estab- 
lished among  the  scattered  and  neglected  pop- 
ulation of  the  poor,  either  in  the  cities  or  the 
remote  settlements  of  the  country,  the  actual 
connection  of  Sunday-schools  with  churches 
of  every  kind  has  at  last  become  universal. 
Every  church  has  its  Sunday-school,  and  the 
most  of  Sunday-schools  have  an  actual  and  in- 
separable relation  to  the  Church  in  this  con- 
nection. In  this  view,  the  term  church  has 
resolved  itself  in  our  use  into  the  particular 
congregation  of  professing  Christians  in  any 
constituted  assembly  for  habitual  worship,  and 
under  any  name.  And  even  then  there  is  the 
distinction  remaining,  between  that  which  this 
Church  does  through  the  voluntary  agency  of 
its  individual  members,  and  what  it  appoints 
in  its  corporate  character.  When  we  leave 
the  Sunday-school  of  a  particular  Church  to 


140      INDEPENDENCE   OF   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

arrange  its  own  rules,  and  plans;  and  opera- 
tions;  in  an  association  of  its  actual  laborers — it 
is  as  really  a  part  of  the  work  of  -that  Church 
as  any  other  portion  of  its  engagements  and 
duties  for  the  Lord.  Nor  would  it  become 
more  really  so,  and  generally  not  as  profitably 
so,  if  all  its  laws  and  plans  were  made  part  of 
that  church-action,  in  its  technical  and  corporate 
capacity.  I  am  fond  of  the  independence  of 
the  Sunday-school.  I  desire  to  see  it  unham- 
pered by  external  authority — and  especially 
unrestricted  by  laws  and  rules  made  by  those 
who  do  not  work  in  it,  and  have  no  real  expe- 
rience of  its  operations  or  its  needs.  As  a 
practical  fact,  so  far  as  I  know,  this  indepen- 
dence has  been  the  general  rule  of  the  opera- 
tion. I  have  known  no  school  over  which  any 
Church  professed  to  hold  a  dominance,  or  with 
which  the  Church  pretended  any  other  inter- 
ference than  the  desire  and  the  obligation  to 
promote  and  sustain  it  with  affectionate  liber- 
ality and  thoughtfulness.  The  feelings  of  the 
Churches,  or  of  Christians  in  their  church-con- 
connection  and  corporate  character,  have  very 


CHANGE   OF    FEELING   IN   THE   CHURCH.      141 

much  changed  in  the  history  of  this  operation. 
Sunday-schools  were  not  regarded  with  favor 
by  Churches  in  their  commencement.  They 
were  often  considered  appendages  of  unneces- 
sary cost,  Sunday  gatherings  of  children  which 
were  a  nuisance  of  inconvenience  to  older  and 
steady  worshipers,  and  a  new  system  of  repub- 
licanism in  Christianity  which  threatened  much 
insubordination  and  possible  conflict  with  he- 
reditary and  constituted  power  in  the  Church. 
We  who  have  worked  long  in  the  enterprise 
well  remember  how  many  and  great  were  our 
difficulties  in  obtaining  the  aid,  patronage,  or 
even  the  toleration  of  the  elder  Christians  who 
governed  the  Churches  when  we  began.  We 
have  lived  to  sea  a  universal  revolution  in  this 
respect.  The  present  Churches  are,  to  a  great 
extent,  manned  and  ruled  by  those  who  were 
themselves  educated  in  these  schools.  So  that 
now  we  rarely  feel  the  want  of  patronage ;  but 
rather  fear  the  overaction  of  interest  and  con- 
trol from  the  churches  to  which  our  schools 
appertain.  The  aspect  of  the  question  of  re- 
lation which  now  forces  itself  upon  our  minds 


142      CHANGE   OF   FEELING   IN   THE   CHURCH. 

is  not  so  much  that  of  authority  as  that  of 
mutual  duty ;  not  how  much  submission  the 
Sunday-school  is  to  render  to  the  Church,  but 
how  much  encouragement  and  aid  the  Church 
is  to  render  to  the  Sunday-school.  In  consid- 
ering this  question,  however,  there  is  a  further 
difficulty  in  the  variety  of  incidental  differ- 
ences between  the  various  local  schemes  of 
church  authority.  I  do  not  know  that  any 
where,  except  it  may  be  in  some  scattered  cases, 
it  is  the  habit  to  settle  interests  of  this  descrip- 
tion in  a  public  meeting  of  church-members  or 
communicants,  though  these  really  constitute 
the  acknowledged  Church  in  any  given  location 
or  in  connection  with  any  given  edifice  or  house. 
Such  matters  are  left  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mittee— or  a  session — or  a  vestry — as  the  dif- 
ferent organic  arrangement  may  be,  who  are 
severally  the  representatives  of  the  Church,  and 
authorized  to  act  in  its  stead.  The  responsi- 
bility and  the  action  of  these  appointed  agents 
are  the  responsibility  and  the  action  of  the 
Church.  At  any  rate,  so  we  must  view  it  in 
the  considerations  which  may  arise  here.     And 


CHANGE   OF   FEELING   IN   THE   CHURCH.      143 

as  the  case  stands  before  us,  the  question  is, 
What  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  and  what  is 
the  duty  of  the  pastor,  to  the  Sunday-school  ? 
The  duty  of  the  Church,  in  discharging  an 
immensely  important  part  of  its  covenant  ob- 
ligation— and  the  duty  of  the  pastor,  in  fulfill- 
ing an  equally  valuable  and  necessary  portion 
of  his  appointed  ministry — I  will  try  to  speak 
of  both,  as  they  have  been  spread  before  my 
mind  and  experience,  in  a  simple  and  practical 
way.  Questions  of  authority  I  need  not  dis- 
cuss. I  have  never  seen  the  Sunday-school 
which  offered  the  least  rebellion  to  a  fostering 
Church,  or  a  loving  pastor — or  a  Sunday-school 
that  did  not  delight  in  bringing  all  its  fruits 
and  gains,  and  in  the  utmost  abundance  possi- 
ble, to  the  bosom  of  the  Church  for  its  enlarge- 
ment, and  to  the  heart  of  the  pastor  for  his 
comfort.  And  I  know  no  other  relation  on 
this  side  than  affectionate  gratitude  for  all  the 
care  and  interest  they  see  awakened  for  them. 


XV. 

RELATION    TO    THE    CHURCH. — DUTY    OF   THE    CHURCH. — MIS- 
SION  SCHOOLS. 

|tfX)  HEN  we  ask  what  are  the  relations 
of  the  Sunday-school  to  the  Church, 
we  place  both  of  the  parties  in- 
volved in  the  question  before  our 
minds;  in  an  actual  and  corporate 
existence.  They  seem  to  stand  as  individual 
responsible  bodies,  distinct  and  separate  from 
each  other,  and  to  ask  the  question,  What  are 
wre  to  do  and  to  receive  from  each  other  in  our 
reciprocal  independent  attitudes  ?  And  even 
this  statement  is  not  complete,  for  we  find 
both  these  parties  spoken  of  with  entirely  dif- 
ferent interpretation  and  association.  The 
Sunday-school  may  be  an  individual  and  local  • 
school,  and  the  Church  a  limited  and  local 
society  of  Christians  of  any  name.     Or  the 


RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH.  145 

Sunday-school  may  be  the  great,  general  en- 
terprise, and  the  Church  the  whole  corporate 
body  of  Christians  of  any  particular  denomin- 
ation. I  need  not  present  even  a  more  general 
view  of  the  Church  than  this,  though  it  would 
be  quite  possible.  Now  only  the  first  of  these 
statements  of  the  proposition  is  the  one  of 
which  I  here  speak.  And  as  the  term  rela- 
tions here  simply  means  relative  duties  and 
obligations,  we  may  so  consider  and  speak  of 
the  subject.  What,  then,  are  the  duties  of  a 
Church  to  the  Sunday-school  as  an  institution, 
within  the  limits  of  its  operation  and  in- 
fluence ?  Surely,  first  of  all,  to  establish  Sun- 
day-schools to  the  utmost  extent  of  their 
power.  Every  Church  is  bound,  as  a  society 
or  family  of  the  Lord's  people,  to  take  the 
utmost  care  of  the  instruction  and  training  of 
the  youth  belonging  to  them.  The  one  great 
instrument  in  the  salvation  of  men,  is  the 
Word  of  God.  The  earliest  possible  age  in 
which  this  can  be  brought  into  effectual  appli- 
cation to  the  souls  of  men,  is  the  best  period. 
The  power  is  all  of  God,  and  the  promise  of 
13 


146  DUTY   OF   THE    CHURCH. 

its  exercise,  to  make  our  "  children  holy/'  is 
also  His.  I  must  assume  the  fact,  that  there 
is  no  other  method  or  agency  within  our  reach 
so  adequate  or  appropriate  to  this  important 
and  desirable  result,  as  Scriptural  Sunday- 
schools.  I  have  illustrated  this  point  perhaps 
sufficiently  in  my  previous  letters.  And  I 
must  therefore  assume  the  great  obligation  of 
every  Church  to  instruct  and  educate  their 
own  children  for  Christ  and  heaven,  to  be  iden- 
tical with  the  obligation  to  maintain  and  es- 
tablish Sunday-schools  throughout  the  whole 
field  of  their  influence  and  responsibility.  In 
the  purpose  and  social  effort  to  attain  this  end, 
there  must  be  the  largest  scheme  of  work,  and 
the  most  liberal  estimate  and  arrangement  of 
means  to  carry  it  out,  within  the  control  of  the 
particular  Church.  No  religious  or  benevolent 
object  can  be  presented  to  a  Church  so  com- 
manding in  importance,  or  so  compensating  in 
results.  Whatever,  therefore,  a  Church  can  do 
in  any  expenditure  or  provision  for  the  Lord's 
work  upon  earth,  they  are  bound  to  do  first 
and  most  effectively  for  Sunday-schools  within 


DUTY   OF    THE    CHURCH.  147 

their  borders.  I  can  not  speak  of  this  as 
secondary  to  any  claim  or  call  to  he  made  upon 
them.  The  obligation  to  provide  a  decent 
and  appropriate  house  for  their  own  worship  is 
no  more  imperative  in  their  condition,  than  the 
obligation  to  make  similar  just  and  ample  pro- 
vision for  the  care  and  convenience  of  their 
Sunday-schools.  The  duty  of  supporting  the 
preaching  bf  the  Gospel  to  the  adults,  and  of 
maintaining  the  pastoral  office  for  this  pur- 
pose, is  not  more  obligatory  or  needful  than 
the  duty  of  full  and  adequate  provision  for 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  children  in  the 
appropriate  arrangements  of  the  Sunday-school. 
And  whatever  books  or  other  means  of  accom- 
plishing the  work  required  are  necessary,  and 
are  within  the  means,  and  scale  of  the  particu- 
lar Churches,  can  not  be  withheld  without  un- 
faithfulness to  the  Lord,  and  injustice  to  those 
for  whose  salvation  He  has  gathered  His  peo- 
ple as  a  Church  and  family  for  Himself. 
Whether  this  work  be  done  by  the  Church  as 
a  legitimate  body  in  any  shape  of  common  ses- 
sion, or  whether  it  be  done  by  the  members  of 


A  t  y    -^ 


148  DUTY   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

this  body,  acting  in  individual  and  voluntary 
association,  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  a  ques- 
tion of  any  consequence.  In  either  case,  the 
Church  are  doing  the  work  required,  and  their 
own  absolute  duty,  and  in  both  cases  they  are 
doing  it  as  the  Church,  and  for  the  Church, 
which  is  equally  and  specially  represented  in 
each.  I  should  deem  it  mere  absolute  duty  in 
each  case,  and  no  more  consider  it  a  work  of 
relative  benevolence  to  others,  than  the  anal- 
ogous work  of  employing  and  supporting  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel  among  themselves. 
The  Sunday-school  of  the  Church  is  a  living 
part,  and  a  most  important  part  of  that 
Church,  and  they  must  see  that  in  the  pro- 
visions which  they  make  for  it,  all  their  chil- 
dren may  be  taught  of  the  Lord. 

But  around  every  Church  there  is  a  field  of 
local  labor  and  usefulness  among  children  who 
are  neglected  by  others,  and  for  whose  soul  no 
man  cares.  Here  arises  a  local  field  for  benevo- 
lence in  this  relation.  These  may  be  gathered 
into  the  nursery  of  the  Church  already  estab- 
lished, and  thus  perhaps  saved  by  the  Lord's 


MISSION   SCHOOLS.  149 

blessing  for  ever,  and  made  to  carry  the  bless- 
ings of  salvation  to  the  families  from  which 
they  came.  And  our  whole  experience  shows 
us  how  appropriate  and  successful  this  class  of 
religious  effort  has  been  made  in  this  relation 
— and  how  richly  and  surely  a  Church  so  labor- 
ing and  sowing  gathers  a  harvest  and  wages 
unto  eternal  life.  Or  this  aggressive  action 
may  be  carried  on  in  the  establishment  of  mis- 
sion or  branch  schools  in  neighboring  and  con- 
venient localities.  Then  it  becomes  a  benevo- 
lent agency  of  the  most  valuable  character, 
often  raising  whole  neighborhoods  to  respecta- 
bility and  usefulness,  and  becoming  the  living 
seed  of  other  Churches  to  rise  and  flourish  in 
their  turn,  and  to  carry  forward  the  blessed 
work  for  others  still  beyond.  All  the  refining 
and  exalting  influences  of  which  I  have  spoken 
come  into  operation  thus  in  new  fields,  and 
exercise  their  power  from  new  centers  to  per- 
petuate and  extend  an  agency  of  blessing  to 
mankind,  unsurpassed  in  value  or  effect.  But 
this  view,  which  has  been  thus  far  limited  to 

a  locality,  may  be  carried  out  to  the  full  ex- 
13* 


150  MISSION  SCHOOLS. 

tent  of  missionary  extension  of  Sunday-schools 
through  the  limits  of  a  nation  or  the  world. 
I  am  persuaded  that  no  benevolent  action  is 
more  real  and  efficient  to  the  utmost  extent  to 
which  it  can  be  spread  abroad.  And  with  the 
large  and  growing  institutions  which  are  en- 
'  gaged  in  this  work  in  our  country,  there  are 
abundant  opportunities  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  effort  to  the  utmost  extent  to  which  any 
Church  shall  be  found  able  to  go.  All  the 
arguments  and  reasons  which  may  be  urged  for 
the  extension  of  the  Gospel  on  the  earth  by 
any  agency,  will  apply  with  equal  force  to  this, 
and  receive  in  addition  all  the  peculiar  obliga- 
tions and  promises  which  connect  the  interests 
and  hopes  of  the  Gospel  so  peculiarly  and  es- 
pecially with  the  young. 

This  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  and  of  every 
Church.  And  whether  it  be  accomplished  by 
this  Church  in  its  corporate  character,  or  by 
its  members  in  voluntary  relations  I  am  un- 
concerned, so  that  the  work  be  done.  I  ac- 
knowledge my  own  taste  to  be  to  have  as  much 
as  possible  done  in  all  the  work  of  the  Church 


MISSION   SCHOOLS.  151 

by  individual  Christians  in  cheerful  and  spon- 
taneous action  and  labors  of  love — and  as  little 
as  possible  required  or  left*  to  the  Church  for 
legislation  and  government  in  its  organic  char- 
acter. I  greatly  prefer  the  living  to  the  "  dead 
hands/' — and  believe  that  the  more  the  work 
of  doing  good  to  men  is  committed  to  individ- 
ual responsibility  and  elective  association,  the 
more  effective  and  living  it  will  be.  And  when 
the  active  aspect  of  this  work  comes  into  view, 
and  the  teachers  are  considered  by  whom  the 
school  or  schools  of  any  Church  are  to  be  con- 
ducted, whether  they  are  designated  by  any 
vote  of  that  Church  as  a  body,  either  mediately 
or  immediately,  or  agree  in  a  voluntary  union 
of  action  for  the  purpose  proposed — they  are 
the  parts  and  members  of  the  Church,  and  for 
this  purpose  they  are  really  the  Church  in  ac- 
tion, and  in  action  for  the  accomplishment  of 
a  most  important  part  of  the  duty  of  the 
Church  as  the  Lord's  family  and  people  on 
the  earth.  They  are  gathered  in  His  name,  and 
for  His  work,  and  with  His  presence,  and  es- 
pecially as.  representatives  of  the  particular 


152  MISSION   SCHOOLS. 

Church  in  which  they  work  and  to  which  they 
appertain.  It  seems  to  me  a  very  worthless 
inquiry  and  mere  barren  technicality,  whether 
this  or  that  sequence  of  incidents  has  preceded 
and  accompanies  their  work.  The  whole  Church 
ought  to  teach — as  resolved  into  a  committee 
of  the  whole  for  such  employment.  They  are 
all  the  messengers  of  that  Son  of  Man  who 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost,  and  they  are 
to  follow  His  example  and  to  walk  in  the  line 
of  His  commandments  and  His  purpose,  in  the 
fufillment  of  their  duty  as  members  of  His 
family.  If  they  will  all  be  fruitful  in  the 
work,  there  will  be  no  questions  about  mutual 
authority.  Let  them  all  continue  to  teach 
and  preach  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Let  the 
best,  the  wisest,  the  most  experienced,  give 
themselves  to  the  all-important  labor  of  saving 
others  and  leading  the  ignorant  to  the  Saviour. 
In  an  active,  earnest  Church  there  will  be  no 
quarrels  or  questions.  It  is  when  Jeshurun 
waxes  fat  that  he  kicks.  It  is  when  men  have 
settled  on  their  lees  that  their  love  grows  stale 
and  their  taste  is  corrupted.     Then  the  lust  of 


MISSION   SCHOOLS.  153 

government  creeps  in,  and  while  they  will  do 
nothing  to  help,  they  will  be  abundantly  ready 
to  do  much  to  control  and  to  impede.  To  my 
mind  the  Church  is  never  more  beautifully  and 
really  presented  in  its  normal  and  living  shape, 
than  when  engaged  in  the  Lord's  work  and 
presence  in  feeding  His  lambs. 


XVI. 

DUTY  OP  THE  CHURCHES. — SUITABLE  BUILDINGS. — PROVISION 
FOR  MISSION  SCHOOLS. — METHOD  OF  CONDUCTING. 

\HE  duty  of  a  Church  to  provide  amply 
and  liberally  for  the  support  of  its 
Sunday-school,  is  a  very  practical  and 
intelligible  point.  The  various  ability 
of  Churches  must  be  allowed  to  regu- 
late the  amount  and  degree  of  this  provision, 
as  of  all  the  other  obligations  or  benevolent  ex- 
penditures of  the  Church.  But  we  have  a  right 
to  insist  that  this  particular  obligation  shall 
not  be  made  second  or  inferior  to  any  other.  I 
will  not  speak  now  of  the  minuter  arrange- 
ments and  provisions  for  conducting  the  school. 
But  I  must  speak  of  the  necessity  of  an  ade- 
quate building,  appropriately  arranged.  Much 
of  the  usefulness  and  success  of  the  enterprise 
must  depend  upon  this.  It  is  impossible  to 
maintain    a    school    successfully  without    it. 


SUITABLE   BUILDINGS.  155 

When  we  began  this  work  we  knew  but  little 
of  the  conditions  of  success.  We  gathered  our 
children  in  galleries  of  the  churches,  or,  if  per- 
mitted, which  was  rarely  the  the  case,  in  the 
pews  on  the  floor.  The  scattered  children 
were  beyond  the  reach  of  a  Superintendent's 
voice,  and  without  the  means  of  any  sympathy 
with  each  other  in  a  common  work.  The 
teachers  were  placed  in  such  awkward  personal 
relations  to  the  children  that  no  successful  im- 
pression could  be  made,  and  no  direct  personal 
instruction  given.  The  whole  attempt  was  an 
inevitable  failure,  and  the  cause  suffered  much 
by  it.  A  second  stage  in  our  operations,  and  a 
great  advance,  as  it  was  esteemed  at  the  time, 
was  to  dig  out  a  better  cellar  for  the  church, 
and  pack  our  children  there.  Here  we  fought 
with  damp,  and  cold,  and  fetid  atmosphere,  till 
our  universal  experience  convinced  us  that 
though  the  Gospel  might  flourish  in  involun- 
tary dungeons  and  catacombs,  a  chosen  cellar 
for  it  was  no  adequate  or  appropriate  place.  I 
have  occupied  such  a  cellar  until  the  floor  fell 
down  beneath  our  feet  in  its  quick  but  natural 


156  SUITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

decay.  Our  Churches  have  been  rapidly  get- 
ting their  schools  out  of  damp  cellars,  and 
erecting  suitable  and  appropriate  buildings  ex- 
pressly for  their  use.  And  much  of  our  man- 
ifest gain  and  improvement  are  arising  from 
this  one  source.  I  hardly  see  a  new  church 
now  erected  in  this  city  which  consigns  its 
schools  to  the  tombs,  and  compels  its  best 
agents  to  complain,  "  clamavi  e  profundis"  in 
the  prosecution  of  their  important  work. 
Comfort  and  convenience  in  arrangement,  I  am 
thankful  to  say,  habitually  distinguish  our 
more  modern  preparations.  To  classify  the 
children,  to  bring  them  together  as  a  collection 
of  little  congregations,  in  one  audience,  to  place 
them  in  direct  and  easy  communication  and 
sympathy  with  their  teachers,  to  give  them  the 
opportunity  of  familiar  instruction  without 
noise  or  effort — we  must  have  a  compact,  ac- 
cessible, and  well  ventilated  room,  with  seats 
and  construction  expressly  prepared  for  the 
purpose.  It  must  be  open,  airy,  light,  and  at- 
tractive, so  that  the  influence  shall  be  in  all 
respects  exhilarating  and  encouraging.     What 


SUITABLE   BUILDINGS.  157 

I  should  like  to  have  for  such  a  work  I  have 
never  yet  seen,  for  I  have  never  yet  seen  a 
Church  willing  to  make  the  effort,  or  informed 
enough  to  cherish  the  purpose,  for  such  provi- 
sions as  I  have  felt  the  cause  deserved.  The 
best  I  have  ever  attained,  is  to  make,  in  the 
best  way  I  could,  the  same  room  answer  for  a 
Sunday-school  and  for  the  weekly  meetings  of 
the  adult  congregation,  a  scheme  involving  very 
great,  and,  in  some  respects,  insuperable  diffi- 
culties. Could  I  have  the  least  influence  with 
the  Churches,  I  would  entreat  them  to  make 
distinct,  adequate,  and  appropriate  accommo- 
dations for  their  Sunday-schools,  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  any  other  use.  Our  congregations 
often  complain  of  the  want  of  such  arrange- 
ments for  their  own  united  worship,  and  justly 
enough,  for  the  problem  of  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tects seems  often  to  be  how  to  make  the  occu- 
pants of  their  buildings  most  uncomfortable. 
But  the  difficulty  becomes  just  so  much  the 
greater,  when  the  interests  and  habits  of  child- 
ren are  concerned,  from  their  greater  sensibility 

to  material  comforts,  and  their  less  power  of 
14 


158        PROVISION   FOR   MISSION   SCHOOLS. 

calculation  and  self-control.  And  if  a  Church 
find  that  they  must  make  themselves  comfort- 
able to  be  good,  we  say,  with  so  much  more 
force  of  truth,  so  must  they  also  provide  for 
the  children  of  the  Church  yet  more  abund- 
antly. 

The  consideration  of  this  material  point 
leads  me  to  speak  of  the  provision  to  be  made 
for  mission  schools.  This  is  a  new  branch  in 
our  work,  which  has  grown  up  lately  and  rap- 
idly, and  with  much  encouragement.  Our 
Churches  of  all  kinds  are  generally  composed 
of  self-supporting  and  comparatively  respecta- 
ble families.  Indeed,  the  Christian  and  Church 
influence  will  be  habitually  to  make  them  so, 
in  the  result.  The  elevating  and  refining 
power  of  the  Gospel  in  the  social  and  personal 
relations  of  men,  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  its 
constant  operation.  And  wherever  we  begin 
our  work  for  the  Lord,  with  whatever  class  or 
character  of  low  and  neglected  population,  the 
result  is  always  the  same.  We  lift  the  portion 
on  whom  we  particularly  operate,  out  of  their 
former  condition,  and  leave   still  behind   the 


METHOD   OF   CONDUCTING.  159 

mass  from  which  they  have  been  taken — just 
as  destitute  and  as  poor  as  before.  In  our 
mission  schools,  therefore,  there  will  always  be 
a  calculation  of  a  Church  and  congregation 
that  will  grow  out  of  them.  All  their  relations 
local  and  social,  will  undergo  a  distinct  trans- 
formation, and  their  associations  and  anticipa- 
tions will  be  of  a  new  and  far  superior  stamp. 
Of  these  mission  efforts  in  our  cities  and  towns 
two  separate  classes  present  themselves.  The 
purpose  to  constitute  an  actual,  self-supporting 
Church  is  one.  This  is  a  frequent,  and,  if  well- 
managed,  a  successful  experiment.  A  Sunday- 
school  in  a  poor  neighborhood  will  grow  into 
such  an  establishment  in  a  few  years  ;  and,  if 
fairly  encouraged,  will  soon  entirely  take  care 
of  itself.  A  congregation  of  thriving  and  pros- 
perous people,  even  in  small  lines  of  earthly 
business,  will  accrue  around  it,  and  a  Church 
of  permanent  character  and  influence  take  its 
place. 

Many  such  instances  will  occur  to  the  minds 
of  those  who  are  familiar  with  this  subject. 
But  the  unquickened  mass  behind  remains  the 


160  METHOD   OF   CONDUCTING. 

same.  And  there  needs,  therefore,  besides,  a 
constant  mission  work  which  shall  he  consid- 
ered as  such  alone  : — a  work  which  shall  be 
for  the  poor — the  poorest — and  shall  conduct 
them  individually  up  to  a  higher  stand,  but 
shall  not  be  expected  to  take  a  higher  stand 
itself  These  two  efforts  can  never  be  mingled. 
There  is  in  our  country  a  pride  and  jealousy 
among  the  poor,  which  is  one  of  the  hardest 
elements  to  govern  or  propitiate.  If  a  family 
of  their  own  number  and  personal  acquain- 
tance, by  employment  and  sobriety  are  ele- 
vated in  their  condition  and  comforts  of  living, 
and  are  seen  in  their  congregation  with  new 
clothing  and  better  appearance,  the  effect 
almost  certainly  is  to  drive  back  the  others 
who  have  not  so  succeeded.  The  conscious- 
ness of  their  own  appearance  and  poverty  mor- 
tifies them  so  much  the  more  in  the  compari- 
son. They  object  to  coming  when  others 
around  them  look  so  much  better  and  dress  so 
much  more  nicely  than  they.  This  spirit  we 
have  constantly  to  encounter.  And,  therefore, 
my  experience  leads  me  to  say  that  we  can 


METHOD    OF   CONDUCTING.  161 

never  confound  these  two  missionary  efforts. 
We  are  to  start  one  with  the  intention  of  rais- 
ing it  as  an  effort — and  the  other  with  the 
opposite  plan;  of  keeping  it  down  as  a  scheme, 
thojigh  by  it  we  may  and  must  raise  the  indi- 
viduals connected  with  it.  Of  the  two,  this 
latter  is  peculiarly  the  missionary  work.  The 
other  might  "be  more  justly  called  an  enter- 
prise or  investment — profitable,  indeed,  in  the 
highest  degree.  But  this  is  a  work  for  the 
poor,  and  among  the  poor,  and  the  poor  alone. 
A  more  blessed  and  important  work  can  hardly 
be  conceived.  The  poverty  of  our  country  is 
peculiar.  No  European  rules  or  expeiiments 
answer  any  purpose  as  an  example  or  prece- 
dent for  us.  In  all  those  there  is  a  fundamen- 
tal distinction  of  classes  acknowledged  on  both 
sides.  Poverty  there,  to  a  great  degree,  may 
be  contented  poverty,  and  willing  to  be  re- 
lieved as  poverty.  Here  there  is  no  social 
point  so  low  that  the  man  and  the  boy  does 
not  hear  from  others  of  the  oppressions  and 
the  possibilities  of  their  condition.  Something 
better,  something  higher,  is  for  ever  in  the 
14* 


162  METHOD   OF    CONDUCTING. 

view,  and  the  subject  of  discussion.  And  the 
characteristic  of  American  poverty  is  every- 
where discontented  poverty,  aspiring  poverty, 
and  must  be  dealt  with  as  such.  We  have, 
therefore,  to  arrange  our  outside  Sunday- 
school  efforts  with  these  facts  in  our  constant 
view,  and  wisely  plan  for  the  accomplishment 
of  the  ends  we  propose,  with  the  clear  and 
distinct  consideration  of  them.  This  point  I 
must  endeavor  to  illustrate  more  particularly. 


XVII. 

MISSION   SCHOOLS. — EMIGRANTS. — ST.    GEORGE^. — MISSION 
CHAPEL. — PLAN   AND   OCCUPATION. 

)HE  subject  of  mission-schools,  of  which 
I  spoke  in  my  last,  has  assumed,  for  a 
few  past  years,  new  and  enlarged  im- 
portance. We  formerly  held  them 
with  no  distinct  individual  design 
connected  with  them.  We  collected 
them  and  taught  them  in  our  public  school- 
houses,  or  in  any  convenient  attainable  place. 
The  whole  idea  was  immediate  present  in- 
struction to  the  children,  with  no  view  of  any 
definite  result  into  which  the  operations  might 
grow.  Many  of  these  schools,  accordingly, 
were  merely  temporary  efforts,  and  passed 
soon  and  entirely  away.  The  benefits  con- 
ferred by  them  upon  individual  children  might 
be  real  and  abiding.  The  solid  and  substantia] 
benefit  to  the  community  was  not  seen,    Our 


164  MISSION   SCHOOLS. 

later  habit  has  been  to  set  up  these  mission- 
schools  with  the  distinct  idea  of  some  perma- 
nent influence  and  organization,  looking  in 
some  shape  to  the  establishment  of  a  Church 
of  some  kind  that  will  grow  out  of  it.  So  that 
our  Sunday-schools  have  become  more  and 
more  the  germs  of  living  and  permanent 
Churches — and  thus  have  gained  an  increasing 
aspect  of  abiding  usefulness  in  the  community. 
The  character  and  proportion  of  our  poor  pop- 
ulation have  very  much  changed  during  the 
process  of  this  effort.  I  shall  not  trouble  my- 
self with  attempted  accuracy  of  statistical 
statements  in  this  connection.  But  all  who 
are  actively  engaged  among  the  poor  will  real- 
ize the  fact  that  American  poor  people  are 
becoming  remarkably  few,  while  the  amount 
of  foreign  pauperism  is  immense.  This  is  a 
population  with  no  plans  nor  hopes.  It  floats 
to  our  shores,  and  settles,  for  the  time,  wher- 
ever it  can,  mainly  in  our  cities — content  to 
have  a  shelter  for  a  season,  and  with  no  defi- 
nite anticipations  of  any  permanent  result. 
They  are  a  very  difficult  population  to  help  or 


EMIGRANTS.  165 

benefit.  Whatever  is  done  for  them  is  like 
salting  a  running  stream.  It  must  be  con- 
stantly repeated,  carried  out  on  a  permanent 
system,  or  it  is  useless.  This  is  the  class 
among  whom  our  mission-schools  are  mainly 
established.  The  old  meeting  of  rich  and  poor 
together  in  our  earlier  and  smaller  Sunday- 
school  work,  has  yielded  very  much  to  this 
new  aspect  of  affairs.  The  poor  of  whom  I 
now  speak  can  hardly  be  induced  to  come  to 
our  actual  Church-schools,  and  mingle  on  an 
equal  ground  with  other  children.  This  view 
is  realized  perhaps  more  completely  in  this 
city  than  elsewhere.  Here  it  must  be  met  and 
calculated  upon  continually. 

In  such  circumstances  I  will  illustrate  a 
plan  by  a  particular  history.  Perhaps  six 
years  since,  we  found  the  difficulty  of  which  I 
speak  pressing  us  in  St.  George's,  and  deter- 
mined in  some  way  to  meet  it.  We  hired  a 
room  in  the  midst  of  our  poorest  neighboring 
population,  and  opened  a  mission-school.  We 
scoured  the  neighborhood  for  children  and 
teachers,  and  found  great  willingness  on  the 


166  st.  george's. 

part  of  both  to  come  in.  We  soon  collected  a 
school  of  two  hundred  children,  and  acquired 
the  labor  of  faithful  teachers  of  different  de- 
nominations. It  was  the  first  effort  of  the 
kind  in  our  region  of  the  city.  Not  long  after 
our  Baptist  friends,  some  of  whom  had  engaged 
with  us,  believed  that  the  whole  work  would 
prosper  more  in  a  separate  and  independent 
action,  took  possession  of  another  room,  and 
soon  had  a  nice  building  erected  for  them 
about  two  blocks  from  us,  by  a  very  liberal 
gentleman  of  their  Church,  since  deceased — 
in  which  they  are  still  successfully  at  work. 
Soon  after,  another  neighboring  Episcopal 
Church  pursued  the  same  course,  and  it  has 
resulted  in  the  erection  of  a  neat  and  attract- 
ive chapel,  a  little  more  distant,  which  prom- 
ises to  be  an  independent  and  self-sustaining 
Church.  Not  long  after  our  Presbyterian 
neighbors  gathered  another  school  of  the  same 
description  a  few  blocks  off  in  another  direc- 
tion, which  has  also  flourished,  though  not 
yet  in  the  erection  of  another  building.  In 
the  meantime  our  mission-school  grew  and  en- 


MISSION   CHAPEL.  167 

« 

larged  itself  continually,  and  seemed  benefited 
by  the  extending  of  the  spirit  and  feeling  in 
the  neighborhood.  We  had  just  so  much  en- 
larged the  market  and  the  supply.  And  now 
we  found  ourselves  with  so  large  a  portion  of 
German  children,  to  whom  English  teaching 
was  of  no  avail,  that  we  separated  them  also, 
to  another  room  and  place,  for  practical  in- 
struction in  their  tongue.  Thus  the  whole 
effort  extended  itself  until  the  summer  of 
1858,  when  we  determined  to  erect  an  adequate 
chapel  for  ourselves.  The  children  of  the 
Church  Sunday-school  undertook  to  pay  for 
the  building,  if  the  Church  would  pay  for  the 
lots.  And  we  commenced  in  that  autumn, 
and  finished  our  chapel  in  the  autumn  of 
1859  ;  an  edifice  of  eighty-five  feet  by  fifty- 
two,  with  a  tower  and  bell — finished  com- 
pletely with  organ  and  every  proper  appendage 
to  the  most  decorous  worship,  and  with  abun- 
dant rooms  for  schools  and  teaching,  at  a  cost 
for  the  building  and  furniture,  of  seventeen 
thousand  dollars,  which  was  to  be  paid  by  the 
collections  and  efforts   of  the   Sunday-school 


168     .  PLAN   AND   OCCUPATION. 

children.  This  beautiful  building  was  fully 
occupied  in  September,  1859,  and  has  been  a 
completely  successful  and  happy  experiment. 
It  accommodated  our  German  and  English 
schools  and  congregations  in  the  two  stories, 
with  abundant  room  at  the  time  of  its  occupa- 
tion. But  they  have  already  outgrown  the 
place,  and  we  must  now  take  measures  for  the 
separate  accommodation  of  the  Germans  again. 
I  consider  this  work  so  practical  and  so  exem- 
plary as  an  experiment  of  mission-school  work, 
that  I  shall  describe  its  details  more  minutely. 
Its  plan  is  free  worship  for  the  poor.  It 
has  no  collections  from  them  for  the  expenses 
of  the  chapel,  though  they  have  solicited  the 
privilege  of  contributing,  in  their  degree,  to 
outside  objects  of  benevolence.  It  is  not  in- 
tended to  grow  into  a  self-supporting  Church 
— or  in  any  improving  aspect  of  it  to  shut  out 
at  any  time  the  poorest  of  the  poor  from  the 
worship  and  instruction  which  it  offers.  Every 
thing  is  done  to  make  them  all  feel  at  home, 
and  entitled  to  all  the  blessings  which  it  offers 
to  them  all.     An  American  clergyman  is  the 


PLAN   AND   OCCUPATION.  169 

pastor  of  the  English-speaking  flock,  and  a 
German  clergyman  is  the  pastor  of  the  Ger- 
mans. The  sexton  has  a  residence  for  his 
family  in  the  building,  and  thus  has  opportu- 
nity for  entire  charge  and  protection  of  the 
property.  On  every  Sunday,  at  9  a.m.,  the 
English  and  German  schools  both  assemble  in 
their  different  rooms — the  one  averaging  three 
hundred  and  eighty,  and  the  other  one  hundred 
and  forty  attendants.  At  10  J  A.  m.  there  is 
public  English  worship  in  the  Chapel,  which 
seats  about  eight  hundred.  At  1^  p.  m.  there 
is  public  German  worship  in  the  same  chapel. 
At  3^  p.  m.  there  is  again  public  English  wor- 
ship in  the  chapel.  Thus  the  whole  Sabbath 
is  occupied  with  a  busy  stirring  work  for  the 
poor.  The  teachers  are,  perhaps,  more  inter- 
ested in  the  work  than  in  most  of  our  Church- 
schools,  and  have  labored  with  a  self-denial 
and  devotion  exceedingly  encouraging  and  sat- 
isfactory. The  Lord  has  smiled  upon  the 
effort  so  abundantly,  that,  as  I  have  remarked, 
we  are  already  crowded,  and  are  compelled  to 
look  to  another  enlargement. 


170  PLAN   AND   OCCUPATION, 

In  the  week  there  is  a  daily  English  school 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  children.  There  is 
a  reading-room  for  men  and  boys-  open  every 
evening  from  6  to  9  o'clock,  comfortably  fur- 
nished, and  provided  with  an  increasing  li- 
brary, and  papers  and  magazines.  There  is 
an  evening  lecture  for  the  English  congre- 
gation on  every  Tuesday  evening,  and  a 
prayer-meeting  every  Thursday  evening.  There 
is  also  a  lecture  for  the  German  congregation 
every  Friday  evening.  And  a  sewing-school 
for  girls  of  both  on  every  Saturday  morning. 
Thus  the  whole  time  is  occupied,  and  the  work 
is  constantly  going  on.  The  English  pastor 
has  his  study  and  office  in  the  chapel,  and 
there  attends  to  the  wants  and  calls  of  the 
people  of  his  charge.  There  are  now  two 
hundred  and  twenty-one  English  and  seventy- 
eight  German  families  in  actual  connection 
with  the  mission,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  communicants  in  the  English,  and  thirty- 
six  in  the  German  congregation.  The  Lord 
has  graciously  blessed  the  operation  in  a  very 
remarkable  degree  ;  and  every  visit  to  it  in  any 


PLAN   AND   OCCUPATION.  171 

of  its  departments  and  details  only  enlarges 
and  impresses  my  view  of  its  important  and 
invaluable  influence.  Perhaps  this  is  as  suc- 
cessful an  experiment  of  a  mission-school  as 
has  yet  been  made ;  and  I  know  no  point  in 
which  it  has  failed  or  disappointed  our  just 
expectations.  The  cost  of  managing  it  in  all 
its  details,  will  be  within  four  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  Already  it  has  blessed  many  souls 
with  salvation.  It  has  elevated  and  improved 
the  whole  neighborhood  around  it.  It  has  ex- 
ceedingly attached  the  poor  to  its  privileges, 
and  has  become  a  very  popular  effort  both  in 
the  congregation  of  our  Church,  and  among 
the  poor  who  enjoy  it.  I  have  given  its  de- 
tails in  this  connection  as  an  illustration  of 
what  may  be  done  by  voluntary  effort  in  this 
work,  and  as  an  encouragement  to  the  toil  of 
other  laborers  in  the  cause. 


XVIII. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL    EFFORT. — PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. — DUTY    OF    THE 
CHURCH  TO  THE  CAUSE. — SUCCESSFUL  EFFORTS. 

)HE  duty  of  the  Church  to  Sunday- 
schools  is  by  no  means  exhausted,  in 
the  efforts  of  individual  and  separate 
congregations.  The  work  has  now 
grown  to  a  great  cause  in  the  land 
and  in  the  world.  And  the  whole 
Church  has  to  consider  it  as  an  inseparable  in- 
stitution in  the  effort  of  edifying  and  carrying 
on  the  Lord's  work  among  men.  This  relation 
is  probably  a  lasting  and  final  one.  Its  local 
and  demonstrated  influence  and  value  in  con- 
nection with  individual  congregations,  have 
displayed  clearly  to  view  its  importance  as  a 
missionary  and  propagative  arrangement  in 
every  outlying  field  of  earth.  What  is  it, 
after  all — but  the  Church  and  Gospel  for  chil- 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL    EFFORT.  173 

dren  ?  It  is  a  divine  arrangement  for  Chris- 
tian education  ;  for  bringing  the  Gospel  in 
direct  and  appropriate  application  to  youthful 
minds.  It  will,  therefore,  present  itself  as  the 
habitual  and  anticipated  instrument  for  the  re- 
ligious instruction  and  welfare  of  the  youth  in 
every  land,  under  its  faithful  employment  in 
Christian  wisdom  and  skill.  In  our  land  the 
Sunday-school  effort  assumes  a  very  peculiar 
importance  as  a  sure  scheme  for  the  religious 
education  of  our  children.  And  when  we 
estimate  properly  the  relation  of  this  to  adult 
religion,  we  must  say  still  further,  it  is  the 
most  hopeful  scheme  for  the  religious  welfare 
of  the  nation.  Family  religious  teaching,  pre- 
cious and  important  as  it  is,  can  be  calcu- 
lated upon  only  in  a  very  small  comparative 
portion  of  our  population.  Myriads  of  fami- 
lies are  among  us,  rich  and  poor,  where  it 
would  be  vain  to  hope  that  the  least  regard 
to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  children 
would  be  found.  And,  as  I  have  already 
shown,  no  family  religious  teaching  can  accom- 
plish all  the  benefits  which  Sunday-school  in- 


174  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 

struction  is  adapted  to  confer.  Public  secular 
education  can  never  be  calculated  upon  as  in 
the  least  degree  supplying  the  want.  The  con- 
test even  for  the  remotest  form  of  religious  ac- 
knowledgement and  observance  in  our  public 
schools,  is  more  and  more  unpromising  as  time 
goes  on.  The  defense  which  is  made  for  any 
religious  element  in  it,  is  at  this  time  owing 
almost  wholly  to  the  influence  of  our  Sunday- 
schools.  And  the '  continuance  and  still  more 
the  enlargement  of  this  element  in  public  edu- 
cation, will  only  flow  from  the  same  source. 
So  far,  therefore;  will  our  public  schools  be 
from  supplying  the  great  want  of  religious 
teaching,  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  hold 
their  own  ground  in  this  relation,  but  as  an  ad- 
junct to  the  still  more  distinct  and  decided  op- 
eration of  the  Sunday-school.  It  is  most  true 
in  this  respect  that  the  Sabbath  sanctifies  the 
week.  Take  away  the  influence  of  our  Sun- 
day-school work  as  now  carried  on,  and  I  ap- 
prehend the  controversy  for  any  religious  aspect 
in  our  weekly  public  schools  would  be  much 
more  readily  settled.     Whatever,  therefore,  is 


DUTY   OF   THE   CHURCH   TO   THE   CAUSE.    175 

the  importance  of  the  religious  education  of 
the  young,  must  be  the  estimate  of  the  value 
and  necessity  of  the  universal  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  Sunday-schools.  And, 
as  we  survey  the  immense  field  which  our 
country  presents  in  limits  of  population  and 
settlement,  constantly  enlarging,  we  see  my- 
riads of  youth  and  children,  who  are  appar- 
t  ently  to  be  taught  the  Word  of  God,  and  to 
be  made  partakers  of  the  salvation  which  it 
reveals,  only  in  the  extension  and  support  of 
the  Sunday-school  cause  as  widely  as  it  can  be 
carried  out. 

This  displays  the  duty  of  the  Church  in  its 
most  general  aspect  to  the  nation  in  which  it 
is  established.  The  Christian  Church  in  this 
country  is  to  sustain  the  responsibility  of  ex- 
tending the  Gospel  through  the  millions  of  our 
increasing  population.  Their  instrument  for* 
this  work,  as  manifestly  laid  upon  them  by  a 
gracious  Providence,  is  the  Sunday-school  en- 
terprise. The  principles  and  details  already 
laid  down,  come  into  direct  application  to  this 
larger  field.     Just  the  obligation  which  impels 


176  DUTY   OF   THE    CHUKCH 

a  single  congregation  to  provide  for  the  mis- 
sionary instruction  of  the  poor  and  ignorant  in 
its  neighboring  localities,  must  lead  the  whole 
body  of  Christians  to  employ  the  same  thor- 
oughly tried  instrument  for  an  extended  evan- 
gelizing of  the  young  in  the  scattered  and  out- 
lying districts  of  our  immense  territory.  This 
becomes,  truly  and  effectually,  a  missionary 
work  of  the  most  blessed  and  effective  value. 
There  is  hardly  a  settlement  in  the  land,  in 
which  a  Sunday-school  may  not  be  established. 
The  reports  of  Sunday-school  missionaries 
laboring  in  our  distant  regions,  and  the  expe- 
rience of  many  individual  Christian  men  and 
women  in  their  personal  efforts,  have  demon- 
strated the  facility  with  which  this  work  may 
be  accomplished.  Barns  and  sheds,  school- 
houses  and  private  dwellings,  have  furnished  a 
temporary  but  real  abode  for  schools  collected 
from  scattered  neighborhoods  where  but  few, 
and  sometimes  but  a  single  real  Christian  could 
be  found  to  undertake  and  carry  on  the  work. 
Children  have  gathered  from  the  cottages  of 
the  poor  in  the  woods  and  mountains  with 


TO   THE    CAUSE.  177 

delight — walking  often  miles  to  reach  the 
humble  but  attractive  spot  where  they  might 
learn  what  God's  dear  Son  had  done  for  them. 
The  reports  of  this  work  present  some  of  the 
most  affecting  and  encouraging  details  which 
are  to  be  found  in  Christian  history,  of  the 
eagerness  with  which  the  poor  and  banished 
have  sought  the  privileges  thus  offered,  and 
the  grace  and  bounty  with  which  God  has  been 
pleased  to  bless  them.  The  instruments  in 
such  relations  are  often  but  partially  qualified. 
Men  and  women  cheerfully  undertake  the  work 
of  teaching  to  whom  the  "Word  of  God  has 
yet  never  been  made  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
for  their  own  conversion.  And  though  I  have 
laid  down  as  a  principle  the  absolute  necessity 
for  religious  character  and  experience,  as  quali- 
fications for  Sunday-school  teachers — we  can 
not  apply  this  principle  as  a  rule  of  exclusion 
in  these  scattered  and  missionary  fields.  Bather 
we  must  welcome  all  to  come,  to  teach  and 
study  together.  For  in  such  cases,  it  is  more 
frequently  a  mutual  study  than  a  relative  in- 
struction in  the  Word  of  God.     All  that  has 


178  SUCCESSFUL   EFFORTS. 

been  said  of  the  influence  and  results  of  mis- 
sion-schools, in  more  accessible  localities,  is 
equally  applicable  to  these  extended  missionary 
efforts.  Many  Churches  have  risen  from  the 
bosom  of  these  mission-schools — in  the  most 
remote  sections  of  our  land.  A  young  man  of 
my  acquaintance,  a  mere  youth,  was  thrown 
into  a  settlement  of  the  Far  West,  and  com- 
menced, alone,  a  Sunday-school.  His  school 
gathered  increasing  numbers  from  the  wilder- 
ness around  him,  till  parents  and  children  all 
collected,  made  the  necessity  for  a  permanent 
house  of  worship.  With  the  utmost  effort 
among  his  friends,  he  gathered  means  to  build 
his  little  temple  in  the  woods.  Soon  his  adult 
congregation  filled  it  up — and  one  hundred  and 
forty  children  were  taught  upon  benches  under 
the  trees,  because  there  was  no  room  for  the 
Sunday-school  in  the  church.  He  was  soon 
enabled  to  enlarge  his  building,  and  a  respect- 
able, orderly,  religious  establishment  has  grown 
out  of  it.  This  is  but  a  specimen  of  hundreds 
of  similar  history. 

In  what  cause  can  the  Christian  Church  ex- 


APPROPRIATE    EFFORTS.  179 

pend  its  funds,  or  extend  its  sympathies,  more 
wisely  and  effectually  ?  To  provide  adequate 
books  and  means  of  teaching  for  a  country  like 
ours  must  demand  a  large  outlay  of  money  and 
effort.  But  no  money  can  be  expended  more 
(Economically,  or  more  effectually,  for  the  wel- 
fare of  our  country  or  the  salvation  of  our  peo- 
ple. The  work  will  demand  united  effort. 
But  the  means  for  this  have  been  abundantly 
prepared  by  the  same  merciful  Providence  that 
has  awakened  and  organized  the  scheme  which 
demands  them.  The  American  Sunday-school 
Union  is  a  noble  instrument  for  carrying  the 
Gospel  to  the  children  of  our  wide-spread 
country,  ready  with  its  machinery  and  its 
abundant  material — asking  only  the  zeal  and 
cooperation- of  the  Churches,  to  extend  a  hun- 
dred-fold the  blessed  influence  which  it  is 
already  exerting  in  our  nation.  Almost  every 
organized  body  of  Christians  has  a  union  or 
society  of  its  own,  for  a  kindred  purpose, 
mingling  its  own  peculiarities  of  faith  in  a 
prismatic  division  of  labor,  with  the  pure  ray 
of  divine  and  simple  salvation  in  the  crucified 


180  APPROPRIATE    EFFORTS. 

and  exalted  Son  of  God.  I  do  not  mean  to 
contend  with  either  or  any  of  them.  I  would 
rather  urge  and  encourage  them  all.  But  let 
the  Church  and  the  Churches  arise  and  build 
— by  either  instrument,  by  both;  by  all — that 
we  may  serve  and  save  our  generation,  accord- 
ing to  the  wTill  of  God.  Let  no  demand  for 
aid  in  the  work  be  rejected  from  indifference 
to  the  object.  Let  the  whole  earnestness  of 
Christian  love  and  conviction  be  directed  to 
this  great  purpose  and  its  blessed  results.  Let 
the  American  Church  determine  that  the  chil- 
dren of  America  shall  everywhere  be  taught 
the  religion  of  their  fathers,  and  that  none 
shall  be  so  scattered  abroad  that  the  mission- 
ary influence  and  effort  of  the  Gospel  shall  not 
reach  them.  Let  Christians  delight  to  survey 
the  field,  the  appropriateness  of  the  instru- 
ment, the  adaptation  of  the  work  to  bless 
youth  abroad,  and  then  consecrate  their  liber- 
ality, sympathies,  labors,  and  prayers,  in  a 
generous  arrangement  and  measure,  to  the 
prosperous  extension  of  the  Sunday-school  en- 
terprise, in  all  its  details  of  blessing,  to  the 
utmost  borders  of  our  country. 


XIX. 

PASTORAL  DUTY.— INFLUENCE  OF  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. — INSTANCES. 
— THE  MINISTRY  IN  RELATION  TO  THIS  "WORK. — INCIDENT 
AT  JAFFA. 

^0  refer  to  the  duties  and  obligations 
of  the  Church  in  relation  to  Sunday- 
schools,  either  as  a  local  instrument 
or  as  a  general  cause,  compels  the  con- 
sideration of  another  very  important 
department  of  this  great  subject.  You 
will  surely  anticipate  me,  in  suggesting  the  re- 
lations and  obligations  of  the  ministry.  The 
local  Church,  without  its  pastor,  is  but  a  body 
in  action  without  its  head.  And  the  whole 
Church  of  the  Lord,  separated  from  the  lead- 
ing and  cooperation  of  its  appointed  ministry, 
in  any  scheme  of  effort,  must  always  be  feeble 
and  imperfect.  I  shall  not  diverge  into  any 
consideration  of  the  powers  of  the  ministry,  or 

touch  upon  the  various  views  which  different 
16 


182  PASTORAL   DUTY. 

bodies  of  Christians  may  cherish  in  regard  to 
the  official  relation  of  the  ministry  to  the 
Church.  None  will  deny  the  general  principle, 
that  the  pastoral  office,  in  all  its  relations,  is 
designed  to  be  leading,  exemplary,  and  helpful 
to  the  Church  of  God,  in  the  fulfillment  of  its 
great  appointed  work  of  glorifying  Jesus  in  the 
publication  and  establishment  of  His  Gospel 
among  men.  The  description  which,  the  Holy 
Spirit  gives  us  of  this  relation  is  adequate  and 
complete — "When  He  ascended  up  on  high, 
He  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto 
men.  And  he  gave,  some  apostles  ;  and  some, 
prophets  ;  and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some, 
pastors  and  teachers  ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the 
edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ." — Eph.  iv.  8. 
This  is  the  ministry  in  its  active  and  appro- 
priate operation ;  and  whatever  becomes  the 
obligation  and  duty  of  the  Church,  in  extend- 
ing the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour's  love,  must 
be  of  necessity  the  coordinate  obligation  and 
duty  of  the  ministry,  in  its  relation  as  the 
earthly,   but    Divinely-appointed    guide    and 


INFLUENCE   OF    SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.         183 

helper  of  the  Church,  in  the  great  work  of  its 
earthly  station  and  responsibility.  All  the 
suggestions  which  have  been  made,  therefore, 
of  the  duty  of  the  Church  in  this  great  and 
varied  Sunday-school  work,  become  yet  more 
effective  and  appropriate  in  application  to  the 
ministry,  raised  up  for  the  very  purpose  of 
leading  on  the  Church  to  usefulness  and 
triumph. 

If  we  take  our  last  most  general  view  of  the 
subject,  I  should  ask  my  brethren  in  the  min- 
istry to  consider  the  importance  of  their  re- 
sponsibility in  relation  to  this.  They  can 
never  be  uninterested  in  a  scheme  of  influence 
and  labor  of  any  kind  which  is  to  result,  under 
the  Divine  blessing,  in  the  salvation  of  many 
souls.  The  actual  results  of  the  Sunday- 
school  work  in  the  course  of  its  past  history 
should  be  a  subject  of  study  and  earnest  con- 
sideration. I  can  not  doubt  that  its  influence 
in  arresting  the  power  of  imported  evil,  and 
resulting  propagation  of  crime,  in  our  country, 
has  been  a  chief  element  in  the  peace  of  the 
nation,  and  a  power  whose  extent  it  would  be 


184        INFLUENCE   OF   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

impossible  for  us  to  trace  completely.  The 
torrent  of  youthful  debasement  and  immoral- 
ity, of  cultivated  ignorance  and  infidelity, 
which  has  poured  in  upon  us  for  these  many 
years,  has  found  no  agent  of  resistance  or  re- 
moval equal  to  this.  Millions  of  children  of 
the  poor  would  have  grown  to  maturity  in 
hopeless  depravity,  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years  of  heavy  immigration  of  the  toiling  pop- 
ulation of  the  European  world  upon  our  scat- 
tered people,  but  for  the  blessed  efforts  of  our 
Sunday-schools.  A  gracious  Providence  has 
appeared  to  prepare  our  great  religious  insti- 
tutions, all  of  which  find  their  best  and  most 
effective  contact  with  the  people  through  the 
Sunday-school,  as  a  special  depository  of  Di- 
vine agency  and  power  for  the  safety  and  wel- 
fare of  our  land  at  this  very  time.  The  Bibles, 
and  tracts,  and  books  which  ar.e  made  ready 
for  effective  usefulness,  are  carried  by  our 
Sunday-schools  directly  to  the  very  minds, 
which  are  taught  to  value  them,  and  made 
able  to  read  them  to  advantage.  No  intel- 
ligent observer  can  go  through  the  Sunday- 


INFLUENCE   OF    SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.         185 

schools  of  this  nation,  including  three  millions 
of  children  or  more,  without  discovering  that 
more  than  one-half  are  of  a  parentage  and 
national  extraction  which  would  have  doomed 
them  to  ignorance  and  left  them  to  perish  in 
debasement  and  neglect.  The  children  them- 
selves habitually  rejoice  in  these  privileges. 
They  breathe  a  free  air  with  delight.  They 
love  to  be  taught  the  Word  of  God,  and  to 
learn  the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise.  Within 
the  last  twenty-four  hours,  while  I  write,  one 
of  my  teachers  has  reported  to  me  a  visit  to  a 
poor  German  Jewish  family  in  our  neighbor- 
hood. The  father,  who  is  a  butcher,  refused 
to  hear  or  receive  any  tract  or  invitation  to 
the  school  or  church,  and  the  teacher  departed. 
A  little  boy,  his  son,  who  was  sitting  by,  fol- 
lowed the  teacher  to  the  next  house,  and  begged 
him  to  take  him  to  the  Sunday-school.  The 
father  consented  to  the  boy's  wish,  and  another 
child  of  ignorance  will,  by  God's  blessing,  be 
reclaimed  and  taught  His  Word.  This  same 
day  another  teacher  has  given  me  an  account 

of  a  group  of  Eoman  Catholic  children,  whom 
16* 


186  THE    MINISTKY 

she  had  been  teaching.  They  were  happy  and 
improving,  learning  their  Bible  stories  and 
hymns  with  joy.  They  were,  however,  removed 
against  their  earnest  desire,  and  placed  at 
Popish  schools.  Some  had  been  so  unhappy 
that  they  had  returned.  But  they  had  been 
taught  nothing  in  their  absence  but  some  of 
the  superstitions  and  errors  of  their  corrupt 
faith,  in  which  they  felt  no  interest.  There 
are  millions  of  such  children  in  our  land,  for 
whom  there  is  no  other  available  or  effective 
instrument  of  instruction  and  improvement 
but  the  Sunday-school.  This  blessed  instru- 
ment now  meets  them  in  every  town  and  city, 
and  even  far  off  in  their  rovings  and  settle- 
ments in  the  wilderness.  It  becomes  to  them 
the  present  living  agent  of  Gospel  teaching 
and  Scriptural  truth.  It  is  intelligible,  im- 
mediate, and  accessible  to  them  all.  What 
can  supply  its  place  ?  What  could  fulfill  its 
work  if  left  by  it  undone  ? 

How  incalculably  blessed  and  useful  is  this 
work  to  these  myriads  of  the  poor  and  the  neg- 
lected !     How  certain  is  its  influence  for  the 


IN  RELATION   TO   THIS   WORK.  187 

welfare  of  our  nation  and  the  prosperity  of  the 
Church  of  God  among  us  !  I  can  not  but  ap- 
peal to  the  ministry  of  the  Churches  to  take 
hold  of  it,  and  encourage  it,  and  carry  it  for- 
ward to  a  successful  triumph.  By  whatever 
agency  of  propagation  they  may  prefer  to* act, 
is  it  not  their  highest  interest  and  duty  to 
work  by  it,  and  with  it,  for  the  great  purpose 
of  general  evangelization  for  which  it  is  de- 
signed, and  in  which  it  has  been  so  successful  ? 
Surely  the  Church  never  can  go  forward  ade- 
quately in  this  work,  unless  the  ministry  take 
the  lead.  Their  opinion,  their  words  of  en- 
couragement and  appeal,  their  personal  and 
pastoral  influence,  given  in  their  appropriate 
measure  to  the  effort,  insure  its  success — and 
encourage  the  judgments  and  the  liberal  action 
Df  the  Churches  committed  to  them  in  this  re- 
lation. They  sow  the  seeds  of  Divine  benev- 
olence in  a  multitude  of  minds,  which  may 
bring  forth  much  and  long-continued  fruit, 
abounding  to  the  Saviour's  glory  in  this  rela- 
tion. I  would  by  no  means  prescribe  the 
mode  of  their  action.     Whether  they  shall 


188  INCIDENT    AT   JAFFA. 

open  their  pulpits  to  appointed  agents,  for  the 
Special  pleading  of  the  cause,  or  choose  them- 
selves to  be  the  advocates  of  a  cause  in  which 
their  own  minds  and  hearts  have  become  en- 
listed ; — whether  they  shall  make  public  stated 
or  occasional  collections  for  the  promotion  of 
this  cause  in  the  congregation,  or  open  the  wray 
by  personal  recommendations,  for  private  and 
individual  appeals,  are  points  of  machinery  and 
discipline  which  must  be  left  entirely  to  their 
own  judgment  and  choice.  I  only  plead  for 
their  interest  in  the  cause  itself,  and  their 
earnest  cooperation  to  extend  it.  I  beg  them 
to  give  their  minds  and  hearts  to  this  work,  as 
a  great  national  and  evangelical  work,  beyond 
the  bounds  of  their  own  congregations,  and 
the  limits  of  their  own  neighborhood ; — to 
consider  whether  there  is  any  other  comparable 
instrument  to  bless  the  children  of  the  nation, 
to  forestall  the  power  of  evil,  and  to  direct  the 
little  streams  of  the  water  of  life  to  the  very 
roots  of  the  young  and  thriving  plants  of  the 
future  orchards  of  the  land.  The  thought  re- 
minds me  of  a  beautiful  fact  which  I  witnessed 


INCIDENT   AT   JAFFA.  189 

in  the  luxuriant  orange  gardens  of  Jaffa.  A 
large  stream  of  water  issued  from  a  cistern  in 
a  yard  inclosed  with  a  high  wall.  "  A  foun- 
tain sealed,  a  spring  shut  up,  a  garden  in- 
closed." (Song  iv.  12.)  I  followed  it  as  it 
branched  off,  amidst  the  orange,  citron,  and 
lemon  trees  which  covered  many  acres  around. 
It  ran  in  diverging  streams,  in  multiplied 
channels.  Each  one  ended  at  last  where  a 
single  man  was  tending  it  with  his  bare  foot, 
and  directing  it  to  the  root  of  every  single  tree 
in  succession.  The  skill  with  which  he  man- 
aged it  was  beautiful.  The  efficacy  of  the  ap- 
plication was  most  remarkable.  The  manage- 
able nature  of  the  power  of  life,  as  he  applied 
it,  was  very  affecting.  How  like  Moses'  de- 
scription, Deut.  xi.  10  :  "  Where  thou  sowest 
thy  seed,  and  waterest  it  with  thy  foot,  as  a 
garden  of  herbs  !"  How  like  the  actual  Di- 
vine arrangements  for  bringing  the  water  of 
life  to  individual  souls  !  How  precisely  like  the 
Sunday-school  effort  for  this  purpose  above  all 
other  arrangements  besides  !  How  many  of 
my  brethren  are  like  the  man  at  the  wheel  of 


190  INCIDENT   AT   JAFFA. 

the  cistern,  in  the  garden  inclosed,  command- 
ing a  settled  power  in  a  flourishing  and  estab- 
lished Church.  Oh,  let  them  send  out  the 
stream  beyond  the  walls  !  Fresh,  growing 
trees,  promising  future  fruit,  are  standing 
there  in  crowds.  Agents  of  fidelity  and  skill 
are  standing  also  there,  waiting  to  direct  the 
living  water  to  every  single  plant,  hidden  in 
the  multitude.  The  life-giving  stream  will 
bestow  its  joys  and  blessings  upon  millions, 
from  whom  future  fruit  in  grace  and  glory 
shall  be  gathered.  The  Great  Head  of  the 
living  Church  will  find  the  joy  and  the  glory 
His  as  He  makes  His  gracious  visits  to  His 
heavenly  garden  in  the  earth.  They  may 
themselves  also  partake  of  the  joy  and  the 
glory  in  personal  visits  to  the  results  of  their 
work.  "  I  went  down  into  the  garden  of  nuts, 
to  see  the  fruits  of  the  valley  ;  to  see  whether 
the  vine  flourished,  and  the  pomegranates 
budded/'  They  may  also  find  the  testimony 
true  :  "  Or  ever  I  was  aware,  my  soul  set  me 
on  the  chariots  of  a  willing  people."  (Song 
vi.  12.)     No  labor  can  be  more  surely  remu- 


INCIDENT   AT   JAFFA.  191 

nerative  to  them — none  more  honorable  to  the 
Lord  whom  they  serve.  Dear  brethren,  let 
our  hearts  and  minds  be  these  "  chariots  of 
Amminadib/'  in  this  blessed  work  ;  let  us  act- 
ively send  forth  our  streams  of  blessing  through 
all  the  land ;  and  "  sow  our  seed  beside  ail 
waters/'  It  will  be  a  glorious  work  for  Christ. 
It  will  be  a  blessed  work  for  perishing  souls. 
It  will  be  a  joyful  work  for  us.  It  will  be 
a  happy  work  for  our  nation.  It  will  be  a 
crown  for  our  eternity. 


XX. 

THE   MINISTRY. — PASTORAL   CARE. — NEGLECT. — PERSONAL    SU- 
PERINTENDENCE.— VALUE  TO  THE  PASTOR. 

)HE  reciprocal  relations  between  the 
Sunday-school  and  the  Church  have 
presented  us  several  topics  for  consid- 
eration. Not  the  least  important  of 
these  is  the  one  which  occupied  my 
last — the  proper  relations  of  the  ministry  to 
the  Sunday-school.  The  extended  viewr  which 
we  took  in  the  last  letter,  is  of  vast  conse- 
quence, The  influence  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry in  this  country  is  very  great.  It  is  not 
merely  the  influence  of  official  position,  which 
maintains  its  hereditary  hold  among  us,  not- 
withstanding all  the  modern  attempts  to  un- 
dermine and  destroy  it  among  the  multitude  of 
our  people.  But  it  is  also  the  far  greater  in- 
fluence of  demonstrated  ability,  education,  pu- 
rity of  character,  earnestness,  and  prudence,  in 


THE   MINISTRY.  193 

the  great  body  of  the  ministers  of  all  the 
Churches,  transmitted  and  perpetuated  as  the 
abiding  characteristics  of  the  American  Church. 
I  am  fully  convinced  no  nation  shows  a  minis- 
try more  independent,  more  exemplary,  or  more 
respected  among  the  people  for  whom  they  la- 
bor. To  gain  their  influence,  therefore,  in  any 
walk  of  benevolent  effort,  is  of  great  consequence 
to  its  power  and  success.  Our  Churches  will  not 
be  led  to  that  enlarged  and  earnest  plan  of 
thought  and  action  in  the  Sunday-school  cause 
which  its  importance  demands,  unless  the  min- 
istry of  the  Churches  assume  their  place  in 
leading  on  the  undertaking,  to  the  utmost  of 
their  ability  to  excite  and  maintain  it.  For 
this  reason,  I  am  earnestly  desirous  to  awaken 
and  encourage,  if  I  could  have  power  to  do  so, 
the  eager  and  persevering  cooperation  of  the 
ministry  in  the  great  general  cause,  as  al- 
ready laid  out.  But  I  am  persuaded  this  will 
only  grow  as  the  fruit  of  a  more  direct  and 
personal  connection  with  the  work,  in  their 
Separate,  individual  fields  of  labor.  The  neg- 
lect of  the  local  schools  of  their  own  Churches 
17 


194  PASTOKAL   CARE. 

can  produce  no  earnestness  or  willingness  for  a 
united  effort  to  spread  this  system  and  agency 
of  blessings  abroad  for  the  benefit  of  others 
unseen  and  unknown. 

It  would  seem  almost  derogatory  to  the 
character  and  suspicious  of  the  sincerity,  of  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  to  urge  him  to  a  pasto- 
ral care  of  his  own  Sunday-school,  or  to  ask 
whether  such  a  pastoral  care  is  really  given. 
And  yet  from  the  multiplied  information  I  have 
received,  I  am  persuaded  the  subject,  in  its  most 
local  relation,  has  received  far  less  attention 
than  its  importance  claims.  Doubtless  there 
are  cases  in  which  the  pressure  of  a  large  city 
Church,  with  all  its  various  interests  and  calls, 
may  seem  to  consume  all  the  energies  and  time 
of  a  pastor,  and  furnish  the  apparently  ade- 
quate excuse  for  inattention  to  the  Sunday- 
school.  But  I  apprehend  the  difficulty  is  not 
found  more  habitually  in  our  large  city 
Churches  than  in  others  of  a  much  more  lim- 
ited character.  Not  long  since,  I  was  visiting 
in  a  beautiful  country  village,  extremely  com- 
pact,  where    every  family  could    hear  their 


NEGLECT.  195 

church-bell — and  the  perfect  quietness  of  the 
Sabbath  morning  seemed  to  woo  the  kindest 
pastoral  attention  to  every  class  of  the  people. 
A  beautiful  little  church  edifice  was  there — a 
congregation  perhaps  of  two  hundred  people — 
and  a  struggling  Sunday-school  of  sixty  or 
seventy  children,  maintained  by  a  few  youthful 
Christians  of  both  sexes.  The  answers  to  my 
questions  presented  the  fact,  that  for  months 
together,  the  pastor,  who  lived  within  the  hear- 
ing of  the  very  singing  of  the  children,  did  not 
enter  the  school,  paid  no  personal  attention  to 
its  condition  or  its  wants,  and  in  no  way  of 
apparent  personal  effort  attempted  to  promote 
its  success.  And  yet  this  minister  was  a  relig- 
ious and  exemplary  man,  and  in  his  conversa- 
tion seemed  alive  to  the  reality  and  importance 
of  his  own  work,  and  the  religious  needs  of  his 
people.  It  was  surely  an  unaccountable  neg- 
lect. But  it  could  be  paralleled  by  hundreds 
of  cases.  And  when,  in  this  case,  the  com- 
plaint was  made  to  me  of  the  smallness  of  the 
salary,  of  the  indifference  of  the  people,  of  the 
coldness  of  their  religious  state,  etc.,   it  was 


196  PERSONAL   SUPERINTENDENCE. 

only  astonishing  to  me  that  the  good  man  was 
incompetent  to  see  the  root  of  the  whole  diffi- 
culty in  himself.  If  such  a  man  would  take 
hold  of  his  work  personally,  earnestly,  and  give 
himself  to  it;  and;  most  of  all,  to  this  most  im- 
portant part  of  it,  he  would  find  his  wilderness 
to  blossom  as  the  rose.  "  Like  priest,  like  peo- 
ple," will  be  found  a  governing  rule  in  all  these 
relations. 

Do  you  ask  me  what  I  would  have  such  a 
man  to  do  ?  I  answer  without  hesitation, 
Take  the  personal  charge  and  superintendence 
of  his  own  Sunday-school.  Give  his  mind, 
and  time,  and  presence,  and  actual  labor  to  the 
work  of  saving  and  teaching  the  children  of 
his  flock.  What  else  should  he  do  ?  His 
whole  congregation  might  be  visited  with 
abounding  leisure  every  month.  Every  family 
in  his  Church  would  probably  be  heard  of  by 
him  in  some  way  every  week.  His  grand  diffi- 
culty is  want  of  work — and  he  is  rusting  out 
from  having  no  adequate  employment.  And 
yet  with  every  thing  wasting  and  dying  around 
him,  this  very  man  lamented  that  he  had  no 


PERSONAL   SUPERINTENDENCE.  1 97 

field  for  his  powers,  and  that  the  openings  for 
the  ministry  were  most  inequitably  distributed. 
The  skipper  of  a  schooner  on  which  every  rope 
was  sagging,  and  her  very  masts  reeling  from 
his  own  lethargy  and  negligence,  complaining, 
as  he  lay  smoking  on  the  cluttered  deck,  that 
great  injustice  had  been  done  him  in  not  mak- 
ing him  the  commander  of  a  seventy-four  ! 
Surely  the  apostle  well  says,  that  those  who 
"purchase  for  themselves  a  good  degree  and 
great  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  are  they  who  "  have  used  the  office  of 
a  minister  well/'  "What  possible  hinderance  is 
there  in  any  moderate  Church  to  the  minister 
taking  the  personal  charge  and  superintendence 
of  the  Sunday-school  of  his  own  Church  ?  I 
say  "  moderate  Church,"  but  I  might  justly 
say  any  Church,  for  I  am  persuaded  it  is  a  per- 
fectly feasible  and  a  most  appropriate  work  for 
every  pastor  in  every  Church.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement brings  the  whole  subject  and  inter- 
est of  Sunday-school  instruction  under  his  own 
eye,  enables  him  to  see  how  far  the  important 

work  is  adequately  done,  gives  him  the  oppor- 
17* 


198  VALUE   TO   THE  PASTOK. 

tunity  of  a  personal  direction  and  control  of 
the  operation,  and  of  a  fair  and  easy  correction 
of  the  errors  and  mistakes  perceived.  It  makes 
him  alive  to  the  vast  influence  and  interests  of 
the  scheme  ;  awakens  his  own  heart  more  and 
more  to  the  cultivation  of  personal,  practical 
religion  among  the  young  ;  gives  him  a  deeper 
interest  in  their  welfare  and  happiness ;  and 
prepares  him  for  more  minute  and  enlarged  in- 
fluence in  his  own  relation  to  them,  and  to  the 
families  to  which  they  belong.  It  inspires  the 
teachers  with  new  zeal  and  love  in  their  work 
— awakens  a  lasting  personal  affection  and  con- 
fidence toward  himself — unites  them  about 
him  as  a  body  of  friends  beloved,  and  gives  en- 
ergy and  spirit  to  the  operation  as  it  proceeds. 
It  brings  him  into  immediate  personal  connec- 
tion with  the  children  of  his  flock — makes  him 
a  helper  of  their  joy,  and  a  partner  of  their 
welfare — opens  their  hearts  to  his  ministry, 
and  attracts  them  to  himself.  It  establishes 
unquestioned  authority  in  the  school,  secures 
its  order,  and  gives  a  new  reverence  from  teach- 
ers and  children  to  the  superintendent's  place 


VALUE  TO   THE   PASTOR.  199 

and  position.  It  imparts  a  practical  and  effec- 
tive character  to  the  minister's  own  work,  gives 
him  more  and  more  an  adaptation  to  the  busi- 
ness of  his  ministry,  and  makes  him  more  effi- 
cient and  real  in  every  other  department  of  his 
duty.  It  is  the  very  manufacture  which  the 
raw  material  of  a  multitude  of  ministers  re- 
quires to  transform  them  into  useful,  appropri- 
ate, and  practical  agents  in  the  Lord's  house. 
It  mortalizes  their  ministry,  by  bringing  them 
down  to  a  practical  shape  and  compelling  the 
cultivation  of  a  common-sense  habit  of  teach- 
ing and  address.  It  converts  their  abstractions 
into  realities,  and  by  making  them  the  "  teach- 
ers of  babes  "  makes  them  the  more  intelligible 
and  useful  teachers  for  all.  "  When  will  min- 
isters cease  to  try  to  feed  their  sheep  out  of 
horse-racks  ?"  said  a  plain  man  once  to  me,  in 
expressing  his  dissatisfaction  with  a  sermon 
which  he  could  not  understand.  Well,  when 
will  thoy  ?  Never,  I  think,  until  they  fulfill 
the  second  neglected  command,  "Feed  my 
lamb  r"  Iu  no  way  will  a  pastor  become  more 
aliv&  to  the  real  necessities  and  condition  of  his 


200  VALUE    TO   THE  PASTOR. 

flock,  than  in  this  personal  devotion  to  the 
ministry  of  the  children's  church.  It  puts  him 
into  immediate  and  easy  communication  with 
them  all.  It  enables  him  to  reach  the  affec- 
tions and  sympathies  of  *the  adults,  through 
these  happiest  and  most  accessible  channels. 
It  thus  binds  the  whole  flock  together,  and 
produces  and  maintains  abiding  harmony  and 
mutual  affection  among  all.  And  whether  I 
consider  the  effects  upon  the  school,  upon  the 
teachers,  upon  the  children,  upon  the  families, 
upon  the  congregation,  or  upon  himself,  I  must 
say  that  no  employment  in  the  ministry  ap- 
pears to  me  more  real  in  spirit,  more  promising 
in  character,  or  richer  in  results,  than  this  per- 
sonal engagement  of  the  pastor  as  the  actual 
head  of  his  Sunday-school.  What  rich  bless- 
ings flow  from  it  upon  all,  none  but  they  who 
have  most  thoroughly  tried  it  can  really  tell. 
And  I  am  sure  that  no  minister  who  really 
loves  his  Master's  work,  and  wishes  to  follow 
his  Master's  pattern,  will  voluntarily  sacrifice 
the  reciprocated  blessings  thus  presented,  when 
he  has  once  made  a  fair  experiment  of  the 


•      VALUE   TO   THE   PASTOR.  201 

work.  Thus  will  the  pastor  share  the  reality 
of  his  interest  in  this  blessed  effort,  and  awake 
to  the  importance  of  extending  it  as  widely 
and  as  efficiently  as  possible  in  the  world 
abroad. 


XXI. 

THE  MINISTRY. — SUPERINTENDENCE    OP    SCHOOLS. — PERSONAL 
VISITING. — LECTURES  FOR  TEACHERS  AND  CHILDREN. 

HAVE  earnestly  advocated  the  assump- 
tion by  the  pastor  of  the  superintend- 
ence of  his  own  Church  school.  I 
believe  this  to  be  for  himself,  for  the 
school,  for  the  children,  and  for  the 
Church,  in  all  respects,  the  best  plan. 
I  deem  it  in  reality  one  of  the  most  important 
parts  of  his  whole  work  in  the  ministry.  The 
pastor  who  can  be  the  most  successful  instru- 
ment of  guiding  and  blessing  the  children  of 
his  flock,  in  the  ways  of  religion  and  truth, 
will  be  in  the  highest  degree  and  scale  a  per- 
manent blessing  to  the  Church  and  the  world. 
And  as  the  Sunday-school  has  been  so  clearly 
displayed  as  the  Church  for  children,  the 
adapted  and  appropriate  instrument  of  teach- 


THE   MINISTRY.  203 

ing  and  blessing  for  them — the  most  intimate, 
intelligent,  and  authoritative  relation  in  which 
the  minister  can  stand  to  this,  is  the  most  de- 
sirable and  important  for  himself  as  for  them. 
In  our  smaller  Churches,  whether  in  town  or 
country,  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  carrying 
out  this  plan  completely.  And  abounding 
blessings  would  flow  from  it,  on  every  side,  to 
all  concerned.  In  our  larger  Churches  I  am 
aware  that  many  ministers  imagine  it  a  labor 
beyond  their  power  or  strength.  In  some 
cases  it  may  be  so.  I  should  be  most  unwilling 
to  urge  unnecessary  or  impossible  burdens 
upon  the  ministry.  Their  toils  and  duties,  if 
adequately  carried  out,  are  abundant,  and 
often  overwhelming.  But  I  would  suggest, 
could  not  a  wiser  husbandry  of  time  and  a 
more  methodical  arrangement  of  labor,  gain 
for  them  the  strength  and  opportunity  which 
such  a  work  as  this  requires  ?  If  not,  is  not 
the  work  itself  so  important  and  desirable  that 
some  other  occupation  less  directly  bearing 
upon  the  welfare  of  redeemed  souls  might  be 
yielded  for  the  sake  of  it  ?     Far  from  being 


204    SUPERINTENDENCE  OF  SCHOOLS. 

an  excessive  fatigue,  it  would  be  found  a  re- 
freshment and  an  encouraging  aid  for  the  pub- 
lic services  of  the  Sabbath's  worship.  The 
more  cordially  and  faithfully  it  shall  be  carried 
out,  the  more  deeply  will  a  faithful  minister 
find  himself  interested  and  engaged  in  it.  It 
will  come  to  be  in  his  view  one  of  the  most 
desirable,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  effective 
parts  of  his  ministry.  And  it  can  by  no 
means  be  considered  irrelevant  or  unrequired, 
for  one  who  is  to  give  himself  wholly  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry — to  continue  in  its  labors 
— to  be  as  a  gentle  nurse  among  the  children 
of  his  flock,  and  so  affectionately  desirous  of 
them  that  he  is  willing  to  impart  unto  them, 
not  the  Gospel  of  God  only,  but  also  his  own 
life,  because  they  are  dear  unto  him.  The 
more  an  earnest  pastor  labors  in  this  work, 
only  the  more  will  he  desire  to  spend  and  be 
spent  therein,  that  by  all  means  he  may  save 
some. 

But  it  is  also  objected,  that  certain  ministers 
have  no  adaptation  of  taste  or  character  for 
such  a  work  as  this.     I  can  only  say,  if  they 


SUPERINTENDENCE  OF  SCHOOLS.  »   205 

have  no  love  for  children,  and  no  desire  espe- 
cially to  bless  them,  they  are  manifestly  want- 
ing in  a  most  important  characteristic  of  the 
Saviour's  example,  and  an  indispensable  quali- 
fication for  a  useful  and  successful  ministry. 
If  it  is  a  fault  of  the  heart,  or  of  the  deliberate 
judgment,  in  this  relation,  they  must  forfeit  a 
precious  field  and  department  of  usefulness, 
and  render  reasonably  doubtful  their  useful- 
ness in  any  other  field  of  pastoral  duty.  If  it 
be  a  defect  of  habit  and  education,  the  very 
practice  is  to  teach  them  a  more  important  les- 
son in  the  ministry  than  they  have  yet  learned. 
Nothing  appears  more  offensive  to  intelligent 
and  reasonable  men  than  an  affectation  of 
peculiar  learning,  in  the  employment  of  high- 
sounding  words  or  far-reaching  allusions  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel.  The  New  Testament 
seems  to  say  to  ministers,  on  every  page,  in 
the  words  and  examples  of  its  great  Founder 
and  His  apostles,  "  Be  simple."  Our  own  in- 
comparable translation  has  transferred  this 
very  simplicity  of  utterance  for  the  common 

use  of  the  poor  and  the  ignorant.     And  the 
18 


206  SUPERINTENDENCE   OF   SCHOOLS. 

minister  who  wishes  to  he  wiser  and  grander 
than  the  New  Testament,  will  find  himself 
just  so  much  less  acceptable  to  the  most  in- 
telligent portion  of  his  flock.  The  relations 
of  his  ministry  to  the  children  will  be  the 
very  lesson  which  he  needs.  And  the  habit  of 
dealing  with  them,  and  providing  for  them, 
and  watching  over  them,  will  furnish  the  very 
supply  of  feeling,  power,  and  adaptation  in 
which  such  a  man  finds  himself  to  be  deficient. 
His  heart,  his  mind,  and  his  habits  will  all 
grow  rapidly  and  healthfully  under  such  an 
exercise  and  employment  as  the  Sunday-school 
gives  him,  for  greater  and  more  permanent  use- 
fulness in  other  departments  of  his  duty  as 
♦veil  as  in  this.  Unity  and  harmony  will  reign 
under  his  administration  in  this  work.  The 
Sunday-school  teachers  will  welcome  him,  and 
labor  with  him  with  delight.  They  will  com- 
bine to  reverence  his  character,  to  repose  upon 
his  sincerity,  to  delight  in  their  relations  to 
him,  and  to  be  his  chosen,  earnest,  and  faith- 
ful friends.  The  reciprocal  effect  upon  the 
ministry  and  the  school  will  be  equally  val- 


PERSONAL   VISITING.  207 

uable.  And  the  whole  garden  of  the  Lord 
which  he  has  been  set  to  cultivate  will  revive 
and  flourish  under  this  extending  and  practi- 
cal influence  of  his  personal  labors  in  every 
department  of  his  divinely  appointed  work. 

If,  after  all,  the  minister  really  can  not  un- 
dertake the  actual  charge  and  superintendence 
of  the  Sunday-school,  can  he. not  habitually 
visit  it,  and  become  personally  acquainted  with 
its  operations  and  its  needs  ?  What  shall 
hinder  his  giving  an  hour  of  every  Sabbath  to 
a  personal  observation  of  the  work  ?  Let  him 
thus  oversee  the  superintendence  of  another, 
and  become  personally  familiar  with  the  teach- 
ers and  the  details  of  the  operation,  as  they 
are  managed  in  his  sight.  He  will  thus  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  several  ability  and 
adaptation  of  the  teachers.  He  will  see  who 
are  really  useful  in  their  wTork,  and  likely  to  be 
his  effective  adjuncts  in  ministering  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  youth  of  his  flock.  He  will  be  able 
to  advise  the  superintendent  in  reference  to 
many  important  facts  and  methods  of  useful- 
ness, as  they  arise  before  him.    For  what  is 


208       LECTUKES  FOR  TEACHERS 

the  whole  school  but  a  part  of  his  responsi- 
bility in  the  ministry?  And  what  are  super- 
intendents and  teachers,  but  parts  of  his  min- 
istry, severally  carrying  out  his  work,  and 
helpers  of  his  joy  ?  This  regular  Sabbath 
visitation  will  be  an  eminent  blessing  to  the 
school  and  to  himself.  He  will  learn  much, 
and  he  will  be  able  to  teach  much  in  the  prac- 
tical efficiency  of  his  ministry  from  this  habit, 
which  can  be  acquired  nowhere  else.  To  neg- 
lect this  is  mere  negligence  of  duty.  The 
minister  may  as  well  say  he  has  no  time  to 
preach,  or  visit  the  suffering  and  the  sick,  the 
fatherless  and  the  widows  in  their  affliction. 
For  what  has  he  been  sent  into  the  world,  and 
raised  up  in  the  Church,  and  received  the 
Lord's  commission,  and  assumed  the  care  and 
teaching  of  those  for  whom  the  Saviour  died  ? 
How  can  any  part  of  the  work  of  the  Gospel 
flourish  under  the  labors  of  a  man  so  heartless, 
so  indifferent,  so  indolent,  or  so  secularized  in 
mind  and  spirit  ? 

Can  not  the  minister  give  the  teachers  of  his 
Sunday-school  a  weekly  instruction  upon  the 


AND   CHILDREN.  209 

subject  of  their  teaching  ?  Let  it  be  a  lecture, 
or  a  Bible-class,  or  a  teachers'  meeting,  in 
whatever  way  organized  and  arranged.  Some 
special  hour  devoted  to  their  work  he  can 
surely  give.  And  he  surely  ought  to  give  it. 
Has  he  no  adaptation  or  acquirement  for  this 
either  ?  What  can  he  do  that  more  truly  be- 
longs to  his  pastoral  office  ?  At  any  rate,  he 
is  supposed  to  have  studied  the  Scriptures 
more  thoroughly  than  the  youthful  and  busy 
teachers  who  are  gathered  around  him.  If 
not,  then  it  will  be  a  blessed  employment  for 
him  to  meet  and  study  an  hour  a  week  with 
them.  Thus  they  may  grow  together  in  a 
knowledge  of  that  word  of  inspiration  which 
is  able  to  make  them  wise  unto  salvation, 
through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Can  not  the  pastor  habitually  or  occasion- 
ally preach  the  Gospel  especially  and  person- 
ally to  the  young  ?  How  much  of  public 
preaching  is  utterly  unintelligible  and  useless 
to  them  ?  Often,  necessarily,  of  subjects  be- 
yond their  reach.      Often,   unnecessarily,   in 

language  which  they  can  not  comprehend.     If 
18* 


210  LECTURES  FOR  TEACHERS 

this  must  be  so,  in  much  of  the  public  teach- 
ing of  the  pulpit,  can  there  not  be  special 
teaching  adapted  to  their  capacities  and  wants  ? 
There  is  here  no  additional  labor  imposed,  no 
excessive  demand  made  upon  time  too  occupied, 
or  energies  too  much  taxed,  or  minds  too  full 
of  other  duties.  If  every  pastor  would  give 
one  sermon  on  every  Sunday,  especially  ad- 
dressed to  the  young,  and  designed  and  pre- 
pared to  teach  them,  he  would  find  himself 
enlarging  his  direct  usefulness  in  this  particu- 
lar work,  and  equally  advancing  the  value  and 
benefit  of  every  other  class  erf  his  public  and 
private  labors  in  religious  instruction  also. 
The  parents  and  adults  of  his  flock  will  learn 
as  much,  and  love  as  much  the  teaching  for 
themselves,  when  he  speaks  to  the  youth 
directly  and  simply,  as  when  he  addresses  them 
in  a  deeper  and  more  mature  discourse. 

I  hope  I  shall  not  be  censured  as  having  said 
too  much  upon  this  special  branch  of  the  sub- 
ject before  us.  I  can  not  understand  how  any 
Christian  minister  can  feel  himself  excused 
from  a  personal,  practical  consideration  of  this 


AND   CHILDREN.  211 

great  part  of  his  appointed  work.  -Whatever 
is  to  be  given  up,  the  pastor  who  follows  in 
the  steps  of  his  Master  must  not  give  up  the 
children.  The  Sunday-school  everywhere  feels 
the  want  of  the  mind  of  the  ministry  in  its 
welfare — a  real  pastoral  devotion  to  its  success. 
The  pastor  must  be  its  living,  actual  head.  It 
should  constantly  receive  the  stimulus  and  en- 
couragement of  his  presence  and  his  example. 
He  should  have  the  sweet  solace  of  the  chil- 
dren's relation  to  him,  a  comfort  to  his  wearied 
spirit.  The  minister  deprived  of  this  loses  one 
of  the  most  precious  of  the  pleasures  of  his 
work.  And  I  can  not  but  earnestly  entreat 
the  affectionate  and  serious  contemplation  of 
my  brethren  in  the  ministry  to  the  whole  sub- 
ject in  its  relations  to  themselves,  which  I 
have  attempted  to  suggest. 


XXII. 

DUTY     OF     SCHOOLS     TO     THE     CHURCH. — CHURCH   TEACHING. 

CHURCH   RELATIONS. VALUE    OF   THEM   TO    CHILDREN. 

)HE  duties  of  the  Church  to  the  Sunday- 
school  will  necessarily  suggest  the  re- 
sulting consideration  of  the  reciprocal 
duties  of  the  Sunday-school  to  the 
Church.  Let  us  not  forget  that  on 
each  side  they  are  both  but  secondary 
instruments,  and  the  real  duty  of  both  is  to 
the  Great  Head  and  Lord  of  the  Church. 
From  love  and  faithfulness  to  Christ,  the 
Church  is  to  be  loving  and  faithful  to  the 
lambs  of  the  flock,  and  maintain  and  extend 
the  Sunday-school  in  all  its  interests  and 
claims  for  their  benefit.  And  from  the  same 
love  and  faithfulness  to  Christ  the  Saviour  of 
the  whole  body,  are  the  teachers  of  the  Sun- 
day-school to  be  faithful  to  the  Church  of 
God,  whose  members  and  agents  they  are  in 


DUTY   OF   SCHOOLS   TO   THE   CHURCH,      213 

the  Lord's  work.  They  are  employed  for  the 
special  and  very  important  work  of  educating 
the  children  of  the  Church  for  its  service  and 
privileges,  that  in  them,  as  a  seed  to  serve 
Him,  the  Lord  Jesus  may  be  glorified  in  His 
Church.  In  this  relation  there  must  be,  as  an 
indispensable  purpose  in  the  Sunday-school, 
the  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  peaceful  and  affec- 
tionate fellowship  with  the  Church  to  which 
the  school  belongs,  and  a  just  submission  to 
its  higher  authority  and  welfare.  A  narrow, 
sectarian  temper  in  any  Christian,  I  trust  I 
shall  be  the  last  to  inculcate  upon  any.  But 
we  can  not  take  any  other  ground,  with  a  good 
conscience,  than  that  our  several  Church  con- 
nections are  the  subject  of  providence  in  God, 
and  of  reasonable  and  adequate  choice  and  de- 
termination in  ourselves.  In  giving  a  reason 
for  the  hope  that  is  in%us,  we  ought  not  to 
hide  the  facts  that  we  are  where  we  are  in  the 
household  of  faith,  for  sufficient  cause,  and 
with  sincere  affection.  Whatever  our  Church 
may  be,  we  have  an  allegiance  to  it,  and  must 
maintain  a  due  regard  to  its  authority,  and  a 


214      DUTY   OF    SCHOOLS    TO   THE   CHURCH. 

proper  consideration  for  its  welfare  and  success. 
The  Sunday-school  must  always  consider  itself 
a  part  of  the  Church,  and  cultivate  a  relation 
of  harmony  and  submission  in  this  connection. 
Any  starting  of  an  independent  authority,  or 
setting  up  of  a  new  republic  in  its  manage- 
ment, will  not  only  be  most  unseemly,  and  out 
of  due  order,  but  in  most  cases  counteract 
much  of  the  good  which  the  school  is  likely 
to  '  accomplish.  The  pastor's  presence,  guid- 
ance, and  control  must  be  always  welcomed. 
The  manifest  plan  must  include  him,  and  Re- 
mand him  ;  and  if  he  be  unfaithful  or  negli- 
gent in  this  precious  field  of  his  privilege  and 
responsibility,  he  must  not  be  permitted  to 
offer  as  an  excuse  the  assumed  or  practical  in- 
dependence of  the  school  of  his  authority  and 
influence.  I  have  been  amazed  to  find  how 
often  and  how  unreasonably  such  jealousies 
have  arisen  among  the  ministry.  I  have  seen 
some  instances  of  very  childish  and  absurd 
sensitiveness  upon  this  point  in  ministers,  who 
should  have  felt  themselves  quite  superior  to 
such  a  thought.     And  yet  I  have  also  seen 


DUTY   OF   SCHOOLS   TO   THE   CHURCH.      215 

schools  and  teachers  far  from  faultless  in  this 
relation,  claiming  for  themselves  an  indepen- 
dent authority  and  right  of  direction,  and  even 
foolishly  refusing  and  withstanding  the  affec- 
tionate and  fraternal  approach  of  a  pastor  in 
his  desire  to  assist  and  encourage  them.  It  is 
vain  to  expect  the  dews  of  heaven  in  an  atmos- 
phere like  this.  The  ministry  of  the  Gospel 
must  be  regarded  and  acknowledged  as  set  up 
for  the  teaching  of  the  Church  of  God.  And 
all  the  agencies  and  instruments  of  religious 
teaching  in  the  Church  must  be  considered  as 
part, of  their  work,  and  as  directly  responsible 
to  them,  in  whom  this  whole  responsibility  of 
teaching  is  placed.  So  far  as  schools  are  con- 
nected with  Churches,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
upon  this  subject  And  even  in  schools  which 
are  established  on  an  independent  foundation 
in  the  necessity  of  their  origin,  we  have  already 
seen,  there  will  arise  a  Church  connection  and 
a  ministry  which  will  soon  settle  the  position 
here  also. 

That  much  depends  upon  a  loving  and  har- 
monious spirit  in  our  Sunday-school  labors  for 


216  CHURCH   TEACHING. 

their  success  and  happiness,  it  would  be  vain 
to  deny.  Let  teachers,  above  all  things,  avoid 
a  separatist  and  self-exalting  spirit,  and  try  to 
feel  that  not  he  who  commendeth  himself  is 
approved  in  this  respect,  but  he  whom  the 
Lord  commendeth.  Let  children  be  brought 
up  as  parts  of  the  household  of  the  faith — not 
indifferent  to  their  Church  relations — and  by 
no  means  taught  that  it  is  of  no  consequence 
where  they  belong  and  to  whom  they  belong, 
or  where  their  Sabbath  worship  may  be  em- 
ployed, so  that  they  are  really  and  truly  in 
heart  belonging  to  the  Lord.  The  cultivation 
of  each  individual  estate  thoroughly  and  well, 
is  the  best  cultivation  for  the  highest  prosper- 
ity of  the  whole  country  in  which  they  all  are. 
And  the  faithful  care  and  watchfulness  in 
every  Church  over  all  its  collective  interests 
and  welfare,  is,  beyond  all  question,  the  wisest 
and  happiest  way  to  promote  the  universal 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  Lord's  cause  on 
the  earth.  I  feel  this  of  special  value  and 
truth  in  our  Sunday-schools.  It  is  a  second- 
ary fact  in  importance,  but  far  from  an  unim- 


CHURCH   RELATIONS.  217 

portant  one,  to  attach  children  in  their  affec- 
tions and  habits  to  the  Church  of  their  inherit- 
ance. The  tendrils  of  youthful  religion  must 
clasp  a  near  and  adequate  support.  Their 
early  piety  demands  the  aid  and  nursing  of 
the  outward  connection.  And  I  should  far 
rather  see  them  trained  in  their  attachment 
to  a  body  much  less  desirable  in  my  view,  than 
brought  up  in  the  more  general  ignorance  and 
skepticism  of  the  value  of  Church  relations, 
and  left  to  be  driven  by  the  wild  winds  of  fu- 
ture controversy,  to  attach  themselves,  or  to 
become  attached,  as  may  happen,  to  whatever 
shall  be  most  convenient,  or  run  the  more 
likely  hazard  of  living  and  dying  loose  from  all. 
True  Christian  liberty  allows  every  one  to  be 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  But  then 
it  does  allow  him  to  be  fully  persuaded.  And 
no  process  is  more  likely  to  be  successful,  and 
no  sight  is  more  beautiful,  than  to  see  the 
youth  of  a  flock  trained  in  happy  regularity 
and  devotion  in  the  worship  and  principles, 
and  affectionate  maintenance  of  the  Church  to 
which  they  belong.  Vain  and  most  unprofit- 
19 


218  CHURCH   RELATIONS. 

able  is  the  Neapolitan  plan  of  promiscuous 
dwelling  in  the  streets.  Let  us  maintain  and 
carry  out  the  simple  Protestant  Christian 
scheme  of  loving  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincerity,  but  walking  ourselves  by 
the  rule  which  we  have  attained,  and  minding 
the  thing  which  we  have  been  taught.  This, 
I  think,  the  Sunday-school  of  every  Church 
should  distinctly  regard.  And,  therefore,  I 
urge,  as  a  first  principle  of  reciprocal  obliga- 
tion, this  cultivation  of  a  conscious  and  ac- 
knowledged union  with  the  Church  on  which 
ij:  lives  and  from  which  it  grows. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  be  considered  as  giving 
this  subject  undue  consequence.  But  I  esteem 
its  practical  influence  very  valuable.  That 
our  little  ones  shall  grow  up  in  affectionate 
relations  with  ;all  these  outward  facts  and 
agencies  of  their  enjoyment  of  Gospel  teaching, 
I  have  already  spoken  of  as  among  the  impor- 
tant, actual  advantages  of  our  wrhole  scheme. 
And  to  me,  certainly,  one  of  the  highest  pleas- 
ures of  my  life  is  to  see  generations  of  youth 
growing  up  around  me,  who  learned  to  love 


VALUE  OF  THEM  TO  CHILDREN.    219 

me  and  my  ministry  in  their  infancy,  and  ad- 
here to  me  and  encompass  me  as  faithful  ad- 
juvants in  their  early  maturity  and  age. 
Pleasant  as  are  all  additions  to  the  Lord's 
table  among  us,  I  should  be  obliged  to  confess 
that  none  seem  so  pleasant  as  those  of  the 
children  who  have  grown  up  with  me,  and 
seem  thus  to  be  the  fruits  of  my  past  toils, 
and  tenderness,  and  prayer.  Beautiful  are  the 
blossoms  and  fruit  beheld  growing  in  every  or- 
chard. But  it  is  not  in  man,  and  it  ought  not 
to  be,  not  to  rejoice  with  peculiar  joy  in  the 
special  fruitfulness  of  trees  which  his  own  hand 
has  planted  and  tended,  and  the  oncoming  of 
which  his  grateful  and  hopeful  eye  has  watched 
with  delight  in  all  the  years  of  their  advance- 
ment. I  can  not  but  say  it  is  far  from  indif- 
ferent to  me  that  my  Sunday-school  children 
should  be  Episcopalians,  and  continue  and 
grow  as  members  of  St.  George's  Church,  and 
that  I  should  still  find  them  bringing  forth 
fruit  in  my  age.  Accordingly,  while  there  is 
the  common,  all-important  Gospel  teaching 
for  all,  there  may  be,  with  great  propriety,  the 


220    VALUE  OF  THEM  TO  CHILDREN. 

additional,  distinctive;  positive  teaching  for 
each,  of  attachment  to  their  own  Church  and 
school.  Adams  of  Wintringham,  when  re- 
proached by  his  neighbors  that  his  church  was 
filled  by  drawing  off  from  them,  simply  replied, 
"  Salt  your  sheep,  brethren,  and  they  will  not 
stray."  Thus  are  our  Sunday-schools  to  min- 
ister to  our  flocks  by  furnishing  attractions  as 
well  as  instructions  to  our  lambs.  They  are 
the  nursery  of  the  family,  and  are  to  make 
their  little  charge  happy  in  their  home,  loving 
their  home,  and  grateful  to  abide  at  home. 
In  this  way  the  Sunday-school  becomes  an 
important  aid  to  the  Church  in  the  individual 
connection,  and  equally  so  in  the  extending  of 
the  great  cause.  Our  youth  grow  up  with  a 
Church  spirit  as  well  as  a  Christian  spirit. 
The  future  Churches  of  the  nation  rise  up  in 
an  intelligent  and  consolidated  power.  The 
various  portions  of  the  Lord's  house  grow  and 
flourish  under  the  influence  and  agency  of  this 
whole  work,  and  successive  generations  show 
the  importance  and  value  of  the  influence  in 
the  strength  and  vigor  of  the  result  perpetu- 


VALUE  OF  THEM  TO  CHILDREN.    221 

ated.  The  Church  reaps  the  blessing  from 
the  school  in  the  enlarged  and  generous  action, 
as  well  as  in  the  intelligent  and  affectionate 
support  of  its  members  thus  taught.  And  in 
the  true  and  abiding  prosperity  of  the  Churches 
of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Head  of  the 
whole  Church,  is  Himself  glorified  and  hon- 
ored. I  had  not  thought  to  have  said  so  much 
of  this  point  when  I  began  ;  but  it  has  grown 
upon  my  hands  as  I  have  written,  I  hope  not 
unreasonably,  and  postpones  some  other  lines 
of  thought  to  my  next. 

19* 


XXIII. 

DUTY  OF  TEACHERS. — CATECHISMS. — THE  BIBLE  THE  BOOK  TOR 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL  TEACHING. 

HOPE  you  will  not  think  I  have  insisted 
too  much  on  Church  relations.  I  am 
sometimes  disposed  to  fear  that  in  our 
union  efforts  to  spread  the  Gospel  in 
which  my  heart  truly  delights,  we  may 
overlook  the  propriety  and  importance  of 
maintaining  in  their  due  order  our  various 
Church  lines,  and  lose  our  family  obligations, 
interests,  and  pleasures,  in  the  more  general  ef- 
forts of  social  advancement  or  national  patriot- 
ism. And  yet  we  are  by  no  means  without 
dangers  of  sectarism  on  the  other  side,  and 
must  therefore  strive  to  give  to  each  their  due 
and  proportionate  consideration,  and  try  to  love 
our  Church  and  teach  our  children  to  love  it, 
without  teaching  them  or  allowing  them  to 
love  any  other  Christians  less.     In  this  special 


DUTY   OF   TEACHERS.  223 

connection  comes  the  subject  of  Church  cate- 
chisms as  a  Sunday-school  exercise.  We  can 
not  well  avoid  its  consideration.  In  this  I 
should  again  say,  the  Bible  is  our  great  book 
for  Sunday-school  instruction.  Yet  every  class 
of  Christians  have  organized  and  arranged  their 
peculiar  interpretations  of  Scripture  teaching 
in  catechisms,  as  compendiums  of  the  Christian 
doctrines  which  are  deemed  by  them  of  special 
importance.  In  some  Sunday-schools  the 
whole  body  of  instruction  is  given  in  these  se- 
lected catechisms.  In  others,  perhaps,  they 
may  be  entirely  neglected.  It  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  two  different  rules  must  be  laid 
down  here  in  application  to  schools  which  be- 
long to  particular  Churches,  and  schools  which 
are  gathered  and  taught  independently  of  all 
Church  relations.  In  the  latter,  of  which 
there  are  many,  surely  no  catechism  can  be 
properly  taught,  unless  it  shall  be  some  Scrip- 
ture catechism  which  includes  merely  the  great 
evangelical  doctrines  and  duties,  in  which  the 
Scripture  instruction  is  perfectly  plain,  and  re- 
garding which  there  can  be  no  reasonable  dis- 


224  CATECHISMS. 

pute.  In  the  former,  or  Church-schools,  it  is 
equally  clear  that  there  may  be  a  propriety  and 
a  reasonable  obligation  to  give  a  fair  considera- 
tion to  the  authorized  and  adopted  catechism 
of  the  Church.  While,  therefore,  I  am  con- 
tent to  yield  a  certain  attention  to  these  cate- 
chisms, I  can  never  exalt  them  out  of  a  merely 
subordinate  place.  In  practical  use,  they  are 
dull,  unintelligible,  and  unattractive  to  chil- 
dren,and  it  is  always  a  burden  on  the  minds  of 
children  to  learn  them,  and  a  very  dry  and 
heavy  work  for  teachers  to  teach  or  to  expound 
them.  I  can  never  speak  of  them  as  in  them- 
selves desirable.  I  have  great  doubts  how  far 
they  are  especially  positively  useful.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  actual,  simple  Scriptural  instruc- 
tion is  far  more  so.  And  though  I  must  yield 
the  point  of  subordinate  uniformity  to  Church 
appointment,  in  this  reciprocal  Church  rela- 
tion, in  Sunday-schools  which  belong  to  par- 
ticular Churches,  and  acknowledge  a  second- 
ary influence  of  these  formularies  in  giving 
particular  shapes  of  religious  instruction  as 
thus  required ;  I  confess  I  write  and  speak 


CATECHISMS.  225 

even  so  much  as  this  under  the  constraint  of 
the  idea  of  abstract  obligation,  and  not  as  the 
spontaneous  language  of  my  own  experience. 
Though  I  have  taken  a  small  portion  of  the 
time,  on  one  morning  out  of  four,  to  teach  and 
expound  our  Episcopal  Church  catechism,  as, 
were  I  a  Presbyterian  minister,  I  should  have 
done  the  Assembly's  catechism,  I  can  not  re- 
call the  avowals  of  opinion  which  I  made  some 
years  since  in  Brooklyn  at  the  New  York  State 
Convention  of  Sunday-school  teachers,  or  ad- 
mit that  any  further  experience  has  led  me  to 
change  them.  Then  I  said,  "  The  great  busi- 
ness of  a  Sunday-school  teacher  is  conversion^ 
not  catechisms,  not  confessions  of  faith.  Our 
schools  are  to  be  Bible-schools,  technically  and 
entirely.  A  man  may  teach  a  child  to  repeat 
the  catechism  ten  years  over  successively,  and 
yet  that  child  gain  no  spiritual  idea.  But  no 
Christian  man  can  take  the  15th  chapter  of  St. 
Luke  and  teach  it  to  a  little  child,  or  to  a  fam- 
ily of  children,  without  imparting  influence 
that  must  and  will  produce  its  effect.  I  have 
no  sympathy  with  that  miserable  scheme  which 


226  THE   BIBLE    THE   BOOK   FOR 

would  take  away  from  you  all  that  is  vital  and 
glorious  in  your  work,  and  persuade  you  to  be 
the  mere  agent  of  sectarian  teaching.  I  will 
agree  that  when  minds  are  better  trained,  and 
hearts  are  early  drawn  to  the  Saviour,  cate- 
chisms and  confessions  may  then  be  useful  and 
instructive  ;  but  God  has  never  promised  con- 
version to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  or  to  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  to  the  Westminister 
Catechism  ;  nor  can  jovl  find  the  word  in  the 
Bible,  c  Go  teach  the  catechism,  and  whosever 
learneth  it  shall  be  saved/  The  simple  prin- 
ciple of  the  Bible  is  to  teach  the  Bible.  I  have 
no  disposition  to  shrink  from  the  responsibility 
of  every  part  of  it.  There  is  not  a  history 
which  does  not  exhibit  some  spiritual  truth, 
able  to  make  wise  unto  salvation,  through 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  There  is  not  a  single 
narrative  or  fact  which  in  the  hands  of  a  spir- 
itually-minded teacher  will  not  be  brought  out 
as  a  definite  instrumentality  for  the  instruction 
and,  if  God  shall  please,  the  conversion  of  the 
soul." 

These  were  words  freely  spoken  in  an  im- 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL   TEACHING.  227 

promptu  address.  But  the  principle  involved 
in  them  abides  with  me,  confirmed  and 
strengthened  by  continued  and  enlarged  expe- 
rience. From  a  child  are  our  children  to  know 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  given  by  inspi- 
ration of  God,  and  are  profitable  for  them  as 
for  others,  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correc- 
tion, for  instruction  in  righteousness.  This 
wonderful  book  is  always  interesting,  attrac- 
tive, and  instructive.  No  children  in  our 
schools  are  too  young  to  delight  in  its  stories, 
or  to  comprehend  the  history  and  the  love  of 
that  great  Saviour  in  whom  all  its  instructions 
meet.  It  never  wearies  their  attention,  or  fails 
to  awaken  their  conversation  and  their  thoughts. 
Its  language  is  the  most  intelligible,  its  narra- 
tions are  the  most  simple  and  natural,  its  prin- 
ciples and  truths  are  the  most  clear  and  easily 
comprehended,  which  can  be  given  to  the 
young.  And  the  time  expended  in  its  study 
and  its  exposition  in  a  well-ordered  Sunday- 
school,  is  always  found  too  short  and  too  rapid 
for  the  great  purpose  to  which  it  is  devoted. 
The  late  Dr.  James  Alexander  says,  in  his  let- 


228  THE    BIBLE   THE  BOOK   FOR 

ters  to  the  editor  of  a  Sunday-school  journal, 
with  equal  truth  and  beauty,  "  Let  me  beg  of 
you  to  take  it  as  a  prominent,  perpetual  object 
of  selections  for  your  journal,  to  hold  up  the 
great  truth  that  the  Bible  is  the  book  to  edu- 
cate the  age.  Why  not  have  it  the  chief  thing 
in  the  family,  in  the  school,  in  the  academy,  in 
the  university  ?  The  day  is  coming  ;  and  if 
you  and  I  can  introduce  the  minutest  corner 
of  this  wedge,  we  shall  be  benefactors  of  the 
race.  I  can  amuse  a  child  about  the  Bible.  I 
can  teach  logic,  rhetoric,  ethics,  and  salvation 
from  the  Bible.  May  we  not  have  a  Bible- 
school  ?  Sow  the  seed,  my  dear  friend,  meekly, 
prayerfully  ;  it  must  grow.  The  Bible,  the 
Bible,  it  is  this  which  must  save  America.  It 
is  this  which  must  save  the  Church,  not  by 
spasmodic  transitory  attempts  on  emergencies, 
but  by  being  a  perennial  well  of  divine  truth. 
Don't  try  to  vary  the  Bible  language  too  much ; 
say  what  you  will,  it  is  most  intelligible  to  chil- 
dren. Don't  try  too  much  to  improve  upon  the 
Bible.  Let  what  you  add  be  explanatory  and 
brief.     You  will  readily  see  how  my  thoughts 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL   TEACHING.  229 

course  one  another  in  the  channel  which  but 
for  Sunday-schools  would  never  have  existed 
for  me.  1  more  and  more  sicken  at  human  di- 
lutions of  the  Word,  and  love  the  taste  of  the 
fresh  fountain."  What  could  be  more  appro- 
priate than  these  expressions  of  that  beloved 
and  excellent  man  in  the  connection  in  which 
we  now  place  them  ? 

The  book  for  the  Sunday-schol  is  the  Bible. 
Every  portion  of  its  history  and  its  teaching 
should  come  up  for  study  in  its  turn.  Its  va- 
rious parts  must  be  made  to  illustrate  and  con- 
firm each  other.  Children  must  be  familiar- 
ized with  its  use,  and  accustomed  to  refer  to  its 
various  parts  easily  and  freely.  And  even  when 
catechisms  are  taught,  the  proofs  and  author- 
ities should  always  be  found  and  stated  from 
the  Scriptures  themselves.  Accordingly,  the 
very  first  demand  of  a  Sabbath-school  teacher 
is  to  be  personally  an  assiduous  reader  of  the 
Bible,  and  familiar  with  its  language  and  con- 
tents. The  general  structure  of  its  books — 
the  succession  of  their  contents — the  special 
subjects  particularly  taught  in  each — the  loca- 


230  THE   BIBLE    THE   BOOK   FOR 

tion  of  particular  facts  and  stories — must  all 
be  made  familiar  to  a  teacher's  mind  by  the 
habit  of  constant  and  attentive  personal  read- 
ing. The  Church  commits  this  Bible  teaching 
of  the  young  to  Sunday-school  teachers.  The 
pastor  watches  over  it,  assists  it,  expounds  it, 
prepares  for  it.  The  teachers  owe  it  as  a  re- 
ciprocal obligation  to  the  Church  to  be  quali- 
fied by  familiar  knowledge  of  the  sacred  book, 
to  instruct  with  faithfulness  and  ease.  This 
requires  only  a  constant,  earnest  reading,  with 
a  desire  and  purpose  to  retain  and  understand. 
Some  of  our  poorest  Christians  are  often  found 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures.  It  has  been  often  a 
great  delight  to  me  to  meet  the  instances  in 
proof  of  this.  It  does  not  demand  peculiar 
talent  or  higher  education.  It  requires  only  a 
love  and  knowledge  of  the  Bible  itself,  a 
knowledge  within  the  reach  of  the  most  bur- 
dened and  laborious  Christians  in  their  earthly 
affairs,  if  a  love  of  the  Word  be  in  the  heart. 
And  we  may  well  ask  Sunday-school  teachers, 
How  frequently  do  you  read  the  Bible 
through  ?     How  often  have  you  ever  read  it 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL   TEACHING.  231 

through  ?  How  much  do  you  really  study  it 
as  a  whole,  with  the  desire  and  purpose  to  un- 
derstand it?  This  is  fundamental  in  your 
work.  It  is  endless  as  your  privilege.  If  you 
really  love  it  you  will  continue  to  study  it  only 
with  increasing  advantage  and  delight,  and 
find  no  end  thereof. 


XXIV. 

TEACHERS. —  BIBLE  TEACHING. —  PREPARATION. —  PRATER. — 
ILLUSTRATION. — SIMPLICITY   IN   TEACHING. 

^HE  Bible  being  our  one  book  of  habit- 
ual Sunday-school  teaching,  it  is  a 
very  important  and  interesting  ques- 
tion, how  we  are  to  teach  it  with 
effect.  There  is  a  skill  to  be  acquired 
and  employed  in  the  use  of  this  divine  instru- 
ment, the  value  of  which  is  far  beyond  all  the 
labor  and  thought  which  its  acquisition  will 
demand.  The  teacher  must  "remember  that 
although  the  conversion  of  his  scholars  can  be 
accomplished  by  divine  agency  alone,  it  is  for 
him  to  win  their  affections,  captivate  their 
tastes,  improve  their  minds,  convince  their 
judgments,  and  impress  their  consciences. 
This  is  his  work,  and  for  its  right  performance 
he  is  responsible.     With  a  deep  sense  of  that 


BIBLE   TEACHING.  233 

responsibility,  let  him  diligently  employ  every 
means  to  qualify  himself  for  his  momentous 
duties.  To  earnest  prayer  let  him  unite  earn- 
est labor,  deeming  no  task  too  arduous,  and  no 
sacrifice  too  great  to  secure  for  each  of  his 
youthful  charge  an  interest  in  the  great  salva- 
tion, and  a  place  among  the  people  of  God."* 
Thus  to  teach  the  sacred  Scriptures  to  advan- 
tage and  with  success  must  require  much 
thought  and  preparation. 

The  particular  lesson  must  be  previously 
studied  with  diligence  and  care.  I  have 
spoken  enough  of  the  general  study  of  the 
Bible  necessary  as  an  habitual  employment. 
This  can  not  be  relied  upon  as  adequate  for 
a  particular  lesson.  None  but  those  whose 
minds  are  fully  devoted  to  Scriptural  study, 
and  in  whom  the  engrafted  Word  is  dwelling 
richly  with  all  wisdom,  can  be  qualified  to 
take  up  a  particular  lesson  and  teach  it  with 
any  effect.  And  they  are  habitually  the  very 
persons  who  will  be  least  inclined  to  trust 


*  Groser's  Illustrative  Teaching.    Randolph,  New  York, 
20* 


234  PREPARATION. 

themselves  to  any  such  general  preparation. 
The  particular  lesson  must  be  studied  for  the 
special  occasion  with  all  the  means  of  assist- 
ance within  the  reach  of  the  teacher.  A  good 
practical  commentary,  like  Scott  or  Henry,  is 
an  important  guide.  The  parallel  references 
in  Scott  are  an  invaluable  aid.  Whatever  can 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  selected  passage 
for  instruction  becomes  valuable  in  its  degree. 
But  the  time  and  thought  during  the  week 
must  be  conscientiously  given  to  the  study, 
and  to  the  study  of  this  particular  passage. 
It  is  an  unspeakable  benefit  for  the  teacher  to 
gain  a  full  and  thorough  understanding  of  even 
one  selected  passage  of  Scripture  in  the  week. 
Questions  of  every  kind  should  be  proposed  to 
himself,  for  his  own  consideration  and  reply. 
The  subjects  which  the  passage  contains  should 
be  brought  forth  in  distinct  points.  Notes 
should  be  made  as  extensively  as  possible  for 
the  exposition  of  the  portion  in  actual  teach- 
ing. The  mind  and  thought  should  be  given 
to  it,  as  a  subject  for  personal  consideration 
maturely  and  frequently.     The  habit  of  this 


PRAYER.  235 

will  enlarge  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  and  act 
as  really  and  as  effectually  on  his  own  attain- 
ments from  the  Scriptures  as  on  the  instruc- 
tions which  he  gives.  I  must  consider  this 
study  indispensable ;  indispensable  to  useful- 
ness to  others — indispensable  for  personal  sa- 
tisfaction in  the  work.  An  hour  on  Saturday 
evening,  or  a  hurried  glance  over  the  questions 
appointed,  is  perfectly  insufficient.  And  the 
want  of  this  conscientious,  earnest  study  is 
one  grand  reason  of  the  want  of  interest  in 
many  classes,  and  the  want  of  success  in  many 
teachers. 

The  habit  of  daily,  constant  prayer  in  this 
connection  must  be  maintained.  It  must  be 
prayer  for  divine  teaching.  The  humble, 
praying  mind  will  be  remarkably  guided  and 
taught  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  God 
has  promised,  and  will  never  withhold,  His 
Spirit  and  His  wisdom  from  those  who  ask 
Him.  The  very  habit  of  prayer  gives  utter- 
ance to  the  mouth  for  God.  It  domesticates 
the  mind  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  familiar- 
izes the  thoughts  and  affections  with  its  con- 


236  PRAYER. 

templation.  And  often  more  effectually  than 
all  commentaries,  will  sincere  prayer  for  guid- 
ance open  the  path,  and  clear  up  the  difficul- 
ties perceived.  It  must  be  special  prayer  for 
the  children  taught.  The  names  of  children 
must  be  habitually  remembered  and  mentioned 
in  prayer  with  special  petitions  for  the  peculiar 
blessings  and  mercies  needed  in  their  family 
relations,  or  their  personal  temptations  and 
dangers.  How  much  a  teacher  may  in  this 
way  be  made  a  blessing  to  the  souls  of  chil- 
dren, none  can  tell.  His  private,  secret  pray- 
ers may  bring  salvation  upon  the  house  in 
which  no  common,  and  perhaps  no  secret 
prayer,  is  offered.  We  little  remember  the 
one  all-applying  text,  "Ye  have  not  because 
ye  ask  not."  Let  a  teacher  think  of  this. 
Have  I  really  asked  ?  How  often  ?  For 
what  ?  With  what  perseverance  ?  It  is  a 
most  precious  part  of  a  teacher's  privilege  and 
office  to  be  a  living  and  effective  intercessor 
for  his  little  flock.  And  the  richest  blessings 
may  descend  upon  them,  carrying  down  an  in- 
fluence to  other  generations,  and  into  an  eter- 


ILLUSTRATION.  237 

nal  world,  through  his  private,  secret  suppli- 
cations. But  such  prayer  must  not  be  confined 
to  a  particular  class.  The  whole  body  of 
teachers  should  feel  themselves  partners  in 
prayer  for  the  whole  school  in  which  they  are 
engaged.  The  circle  of  private  prayer  should 
surround  the  whole,  and  each  should  become 
the  habitual  intercessor  for  all.  Thus  divine 
mercies  will  descend  upon  all,  and  God  will 
pour  out  His  blessings  upon  all,  while  the 
united  prayer  shall  return  into  the  bosom  of 
each. 

In  the  actual,  practical  teaching  of  a  Bible 
lesson  thus  prepared  by  study  and  prayer, 
there  is  required  peculiar  tact  and  skill.  Chil- 
dren are  easily  interested,  but  volatile  in  at- 
tention, and  superficial  in  thought.  And, 
therefore,  their  attention  is  not  only  to  be  se- 
cured by  instructing  address — but  maintained 
by  variety  of  teaching.  Mere  didactic,  ab- 
stract instruction  will  not  meet  their  wants. 
Still  less  a  barren  answer  derived  from  them 
to  particular  questions  prepared.  The  object 
is  to  interest  their  thoughts — to  teach  them 


238  ILLUSTRATION. 

and  help  them  to  think — to  fasten  the  sub- 
ject of  teaching  upon  their  memory — and  to 
give  them  some  instruction  which  shall  be  per- 
manent and  effectual.  This  is  only  to  be  done 
by  a  system  of  illustration,  from  every  variety 
of  source  accessible  to  the  teacher,  and  adapted 
to  the  minds  of  children.  The  whole  system 
of  divine  teaching  in  the  Scripture  is  of  this 
description.  An  endless  variety  of  story  and 
biography  and  comparison  is  employed  there  to 
make  every  truth  more  clear  and  manifest  in 
its  personal  application  to  those  for  whom  they 
are  all  proclaimed.  And  the  preacher  or 
teacher  most  of  all  confined  to  the  mere  Bible 
without  note  or  comment  for  study,  will  habit- 
ually become  in  the  very  pattern  of  the  Bible, 
the  most  disposed  and  ready  to  illustrate  its 
truths  by  comparisons  and  facts  bearing  them 
out.  An  anecdote  read,  or  a  fact  witnessed, 
really  carrying  out  the  particular  point  of 
teaching  in  the  lesson,  is  always  effectual  and 
impressive.  These  facts  should  bear  upon  the 
point  directly,  and  not  merely  be  a  story  told 
— still  less,  as  I  have  sometimes  seen,  a  book 


SIMPLICITY   IN   TEACHING.  239 

read  by  the  teacher  to  the  class,  as  a  reward  for 
going  through  the  lesson  prescribed.  The  illus- 
tration should  be  short  and  applicable  imme- 
diately, so  that  the  child  shall  discern  its  pro- 
priety and  force.  Thus  the  Saviour  taught. 
The  lilies  of  the  field — the  fowls  of  the  air — 
the  fish  in  the  net — the  falling  tower  of  Siloam 
— the  cruelty  of  Pilate,  and  a  multitude  of 
such  facts,  constantly  seen  and  easily  under- 
stood, were  habitually  employed  by  Him  to 
enforce  and  explain  the  truths  which  He  would 
teach.  The  prophets  and  apostles  taught  upon 
the  same  plan,  under  the  same  divine  teaching 
of  the  Spirit.  This  it  is  which  has  made  the 
Bible  the  book  of  deepest  and  most  abiding 
interest,  as  well  as  the  most  easily  intelligible 
to  the  youthful  and  the  poor  of  every  age. 
The  Sunday-school  teacher  must  adopt  this 
model,  and  carry  it  out  as  faithfully  and  effect- 
ually as  he  can. 

The  lesson  must  be  taught  in  the  plainest 
and  simplest  language.  Often  the  very  words 
will  be  found  unintelligible  to  the  children. 
I  once  asked  a  class  of  intelligent  little  bovs 


240  SIMPLICITY  IN   TEACHING. 

in  a  lesson  on  the  second  chapter  of  Kuth,  the 
meaning  of  "gleaning" — and  not  one  could 
tell  me.  It  was  a  term  out  of  their  habit  of 
use;  and  required  explanation  from  other  habits 
than  they  had  ever  seen.  Such  instances  will 
often  occur.  The  teacher  can  not  be.  too  sim- 
ple in  instruction.  It  is  a  very  high  as  well  as 
valuable  attainment  to  be  able  to  do  this.  To 
do  it  effectually  demands  a  variety  of  informa- 
tion— habitual  patience  and  self-control — and 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  real  worth  and 
meaning  of  words.  Let  a  teacher  take  noth- 
ing for  granted  in  the  knowledge  of  children — 
but  bring  out  the  amount  of  their  information 
and  the  readiness  of  their  thought,  by  constant 
and  simple  questions  addressed  thus  to  each. 
To  use  simple  words  is  a  most  important  re- 
quisite for  deep  'and  real  teaching.  All  ex- 
traneous conversation  must  be  cut  off,  and  the 
attention  kept  fixed  on  the  one  subject,  which 
is  the  appointed  subject  of  study.  Step  after 
step  must  they  go  forward  in  the  lesson — with 
the  effort  and  purpose  that  it  shall  be  thor- 
oughly understood.     An  hour  will  soon  pass 


SIMPLICITY  IN   TEACHING.  241 

in  the  effort  to  make  ten  verses  of  Scripture 
plain  to  a  class  of  little  ones.  And  the  more 
they  understand  and  are  interested  in  it,  only 
the  more  difficult  will  it  become  to  restrain  the 
association  of  their  thoughts,  and  to  confine 
them  to  the  actual  line  of  teaching  in  hand. 


XXV. 


TEACHERS. MANNERS. ACTUAL   WORK. — BLESSED 

RESULTS. — JOY   IN   FINAL   SUCCESS. 


)  HAT  is  more  interesting  than  to  see 
a  Sunday-school  teacher  effectively- 
operating  upon  the  scheme  which  I 
have  described — a  class  of  boys  or 
girls,  intently  listening,  deeply  in- 
terested, and  affectionately  devoted  to  their 
teacher — turning  over  their  Bibles  for  refer- 
ences— eagerly  answering  the  questions  pro- 
posed, or  as  eagerly  proposing  their  questions 
in  return  ?  I  have  watched  the  operation  of 
such  a  work  for  the  Lord  until  my  whole  at- 
tention has  become  absorbed  in  the  one  class, 
and  I  felt  my  eyes  glistening  with  tears  of  de- 
light. For  such  a  work  there  will  be  required, 
beyond  the  information  and  simplicity*  of 
teaching  of  which  I  have  spoken,  great  tender- 
ness of  manner,  real  affection  of  heart,  mani- 


MANNERS.  243 

fest  love  for  the  souls  of  the  children,  and  for 
the  Saviour  to  whom  they  are  directed.  The 
work  must  be  all  sincere,  real,  and  fully  confi- 
dent in  the  success  and  blessing  which  are  de- 
sired. The  teacher  must  feel  that  the  benefit 
to  be  derived  is  mutual,  and  while  he  is  re- 
freshing and  guiding  others,  he  is  also  refreshed 
and  guided  himself.  Hopefulness  in  his  un- 
dertaking is  of  inestimable  value  to  him.  His 
own  cheerful  and  confiding  manner  will  be  im- 
parted to  his  children.  They  will  partake  of 
his  spirit  and  reflect  back  upon  him  the  excit- 
ing and  encouraging  influence  which  they  re- 
ceive. Thus  the  whole  engagement  becomes  a 
pleasure  of  the  highest  kind  to  both,  and  a 
source  of  advantage  and  profit  to  all. 

We  will  suppose  the  teacher  seated  before 
his  class  in  this  cheerful,  hopeful  spirit.  They 
welcome  him  on  the  Sabbath  morning  as  one 
of  their  chief  and  chosen  friends.  They  rejoice 
to  see  him,  and  to  unite  with  him  in  the  work 
at  hand.  Deep  seriousness  as  well  as  joy  and 
delight  mark  their  union  in  the  religious  exer- 
cises which  open  the  school.    As  each  child  is 


244  ACTUAL  WOKK. 

a  unit  before  the  teacher,  so  is  the  spirit  and 
aspect  of  the  whole  class  a  unit  before  the  su- 
perintendent. There  is  perfect  drill  in  quiet- 
ness and  attention  among  them  all.  They 
thus  minister  exceedingly  to  the  pleasure  and 
prosperity  of  the  whole  assembly.  The  open- 
ing worship  ended,  no  time  is  lost  or  wasted  in 
talking  or  idleness.  Instantly  every  one  has 
his  Bible,  and  every  Bible  is  opened  at  the  ap- 
pointed place.  They  begin  at  once  to  read 
the  lesson  through — by  single  verses  around 
the  class.  The  teacher  in  a  few  words  opens 
the  subject  which  the  lesson  contains,  and  lays 
before  them  the  story,  or  the  fact,  or  the  doc- 
trine, which  they  are  to  consider.  Every  thing 
then  opens  in  a  ready  and  regular  way,  and  all 
are  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  work  before 
them  with  delight.  Then  come  the  questions 
upon  each  succeeding  verse,  in  which  the  ob- 
ject is  not  so  much  to  get  direct  answers  to 
simple  questions  as  to  engage  the  minds  of  the 
children  to  think  upon  the  subject  proposed, 
and  to  fasten  these  thoughts  in  their  minds  and 
memory.     Accordingly,  every  general  question 


ACTUAL   WORK.  245 

is  broken  up  by  particular  questions,  illus- 
trating the  point  which  it  presents  ;  and  every 
answer  suggests  new  questions,  making  clear 
and  certain  the  information  which  the  answer 
presents.  On  every  verse  or  every  question 
some  extraneous  illustration  will  occur  to  mind, 
or  has  been  already  prepared  by  the  teacher — 
some  anecdote,  some  fact  from  history,  from 
natural  history,  or  from  personal  events,  to 
make  the  whole  point  more  vivid  and  distinct. 
Such  illustrations  should  be  short,  and  not  run 
out  into  long  stories.  They  should  be  immedi- 
ately apposite  and  apparent,  that  the  minds  of 
children  may  see  the  resemblance  or  analogy  at 
once.  They  should  be  very  simple,  so  that  the 
illustration  shall  not  need  more  ,  explanation 
than  the  lesson  which  it  proposes  to  explain. 
They  must  be  presented  in  a  concise  and  dis- 
tinct form,  and  not  dragged  on  in  a  sleepy, 
heavy  way.  Every  such  illustration  wrell  di- 
rected will  awaken  a  new  train  of  thought  in 
the  youthful  mind,  and  stir  them  up  to  new 
life  in  the  subject  before  them.     There  must  be 

care,  therefore,  that  the  whole  train  is  not  led 
21*. 


246  BLESSED   RESULTS. 

off  upon  a  new  brauch,  a  mere  diversion.  The 
constant  connection  must  be  maintained  with 
the  lesson  in  hand,  and  every  part  of  the  in- 
struction must  run  directly  in  that  one  line, 
while  the  whole  must  be  guided  to  a  personal, 
religious  application  to  the  hearts  of  the  chil- 
dren. Thus  the  work  goes  on  in  increasing  in- 
terest for  all,  as  the  time  ^oes  by.  And  the 
whole  time  seems  too  short  for  the  engagement 
they  have  had,  and  full  of  interest  and  delight 
to  them  in  it.  The  closing  exercises  of  praise 
and  prayer  are  but  a  more  solemn  illustration 
of  the  united,  affectionate  attention  than  the 
opening.  And  the  school  closes,  with  the  uni- 
versal feeling  of  delight  in  the  minds  of  teacher 
and  children. 

If  this  description  could  be  carried  out 
through  a  whole  school,  no  employment  could 
be  more  delightful,  and  perhaps  no  religious 
agency  or  instrument  more  effectual.  It  would 
be  the  Sunday-school  enterprise  in  its  perfec- 
tion of  operation  and  result.  We  may  hardly 
anticipate  this.  But  we  may  certainly  work 
toward  ify  and  encourage  each  other  to  attain 


BLESSED   RESULTS.  247 

it,  in  a  constantly  increasing  measure  of  suc- 
cess. In  such  an  operation,  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  children  become  intensely  interested 
in  the  employment — many  are  brought  up  to  a 
full  and  decided  profession  and  maintenance  of 
their  love  and  obedience  to  a  Saviour,  in  all  His 
appointed  ordinances,  and  in  the  whole  duties 
of  a  Christian  life.  It  is  a  work  of  real  salva- 
tion, and  of  abounding  blessing.  As  our 
schools  go  on,  the  number  of  faithful,  useful 
teachers  constantly  increases.  Every  year  gives 
us  manifest  improvement  in  our  style  of  work, 
and  equally  manifest  advance  in  the  results  we 
attain.  And  the  longer  we  are  occupied,  and 
the  more  enlarged  becomes  our  experience  in 
this  blessed  enterprise,  the  more  satisfactory 
and  compensating  it  appears.  Thousands  of 
children  have  gained  salvation  here.  They  are 
growing  up  to  that  "great  multitude  which 
no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kin- 
dreds, and  peoples,  and  tongues,  standing  be- 
fore the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed 
with  white  robes,  and  with  palms  in  their 
hands,  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  Salvation  to 


248  BLESSED   RESULTS. 

our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb/'  The  living  Church  of  God 
"  clothes  herself  with  them  all,  as  with  an  or- 
nament, and  binds  them  on  her  as  a  bride 
doeth."  Hundreds  of  teachers  are  receiving 
the  glorious  promise  of  the  Lord  by  His  an- 
gel, "They  that  be  c teachers'  [margin]  shall 
shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament — and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as  the 
stars  for  ever  and  ever."  What  glory  already 
fills  the  heavenly  courts  from  this  work  of 
heaven  on  the  earth  !  What  encouragement 
abounds  in  it  still  upon  the  earth  !  As  genera- 
tions go  on,  in  the  advancing  progress  of  the 
Lord's  redeemed,  new  blessings  and  new  instru- 
ments of  blessing  arise  to  us  here.  And  every 
year  enlarges  our  hopes  and  establishes  our 
convictions  in  the  worth  of  this  enterprise  for 
the  Lord,  in  which  we  are  occupied  for  His 
glory,  and  for  the  everlasting  welfare  of  the 
children  He  hath  purchased  with  His  own 
precious  blood. 

I  can  only  say  to  my  beloved  fellow-teachers 
in  closing  this  series  of  familiar  letters,  ad- 


JOY  IN   FINAL   SUCCESS.  249 

dressed  personally  to  one  of  their  number,  but 
intended  for  the  encouragement  of  them  all, 
Let  us  work  for  the  Lord,  with  a  ready  mind 
and  an  earnest  will.  Do  it  as  His  work,  and 
do  it  for  Him.  He  will  increase  His  gifts  of 
grace  and  glory  upon  us — in  our  own  experi- 
ence and  enjoyment — and  He  will  cause  His 
blessed  work  to  prosper  in  our  hands.  He 
gives  us,  as  our  reward,  the  love  of  our  chil- 
dren— the  gratitude  of  their  parents — the  ap- 
proval of  His  Church — the  sweeter  peace  of 
our  own  possession  of  His  Spirit — the  pleasure 
of  the  toil — the  actual  growth  of  our  own 
souls  in  grace  by  it — the  salvation  of  the  pre- 
cious souls  committed  to  us — the  promotion  of 
the  Saviour's  glory  here — the  welcome  of  the 
Saviour's  smile  and  approbation  hereafter — a 
name  of  usefulness  in  His  family  below — a 
name  of  honor  in  His  family  above.  We  can 
not  be  without  our  reward— abounding  re- 
wards. Let  us  be  simple  in  motive,  sincere  in 
spirit,  faithful  in  duty,  persevering  in  hope — 
sowing  our  precious  seed  in  the  morning ;  in 
the  evening,  withholding  not  our  hands,  but 


250  JOY  IN  FINAL   SUCCESS. 

sowing  still  with  unrelaxing  zeal,  and  in  due 
time  we  shall  reap,  if  we  faint  not.  A  com- 
mander of  a  British  vessel  of  war,  sailing  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  charged  with  the 
convoy  of  a  little  sloop  of  value,  to  England. 
They  were  in  mutual  sight  for  many  days. 
But  a  storm  arose,  and  separated  them  finally. 
The  armed  vessel  pursued  .her  course  home- 
ward, the  captain  not  expecting  to  see  his  little 
charge  again.  He  entered  the  channel  and  an- 
chored off  Portsmouth  in  a  fog,  with  a  heavy 
heart,  in  remembrance  of  her.  But  when  the 
thick  fog  lifted,  what  was  his  surprise  at  seeing 
the  little  lost  craft  anchored  in  peace  directly 
by  his  side.  In  equal  ignorance  of  his  course, 
her  commander  had  dropped  his  anchor  there. 
Ah,  what  a  joyful  meeting  there  will  be  with 
many  of  our  little  ones,  too,  when,  safe  at  last, 
we  see  them  there.  Doubt,  perhaps  despair, 
for  them  may  have  possessed  us  long.  Igno- 
rance of  them  may  have  distressed  us  much. 
But  when  the  darkness  has  passed,  and  the 
true  light  shineth,  we  shall  welcome  them  with 
delight,  and  rejoice  over  them  with  singing. 


JOY  IN  FINAL   SUCCESS.  251 

But  which  shall  prosper,  whether  this  or  that, 
let  us  never  forget  that  our  Blessed  Master 
says  to  each  of  us;  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto 
death,  a£td  i  will  give  thee  a  crown  of 
Life." 


THE  END. 


«&&• 


c*- 


^ 


a 


tf* 


£-*(_ 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 

llll  IH I  III  I  III  II II II II 

C020878330 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


